Kolkata Knight Riders emerged as the champions of the IPL 2024 after defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets in the ultimate title clash at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday, May 26.
Kolkata Knight Riders triumphed their third IPL title a decade after winning the second trophy of the tournament. The last time KKR won the elusive IPL title was in 2014, defeating Punjab Kings in the final under captaincy of Gautam Gambhir, who is now mentor of the side.
KKR displayed brilliant all-round performance to crush SRH in the IPL 2024 Final. Bowlers, especially Andre Russell, Mitchell Starc and Harshit Rana dismantled Sunrisers Hyderabad's batting line-up, bundling them out for the lowest total of 113 in the IPL final history.
In response to the target of a mere 114, Venkatesh Iyer's brilliant unbeaten 52 off 26 balls, alongside Rahmanullah Gurbaz with an innings of 39 off 32 balls to help the champion team chase down the target in 10.3 overs.
Though it was a low-scorer IPL 2024 final, the presentation ceremony took too long to begin. The Kolkata Knight Riders chased down 114-run target in just 72 minutes, wrapping up the final by 10:30 pm. Since the title clash finished early, many thought the presentation should be starting anytime soon.
However, the spectators and fan kept waiting for the post-match ceremony to begin as it kept delaying. Finally, the presentation ceremony began after 90 mins, i.e. at 11:53 pm.
Why was there a delay for the presentation ceremony to begin?
Fans expressed their frustration and anger over the continuous delay to begin the post-final presentation ceremony. But, there is a reason.
Since the IPL 2024 Final wrapped up early, the match ended before the scheduled broadcast time. If the presentation ceremony had taken place immediately after the final, broadcasters would have incurred losses.
To ensure that broadcasters didn't suffer any losses and to fill the scheduled broadcast time appropriately, the presentation was deliberately delayed by showing advertisements.
Even the IPL commentators were seen constantly interacting with the Kolkata Knight Riders' players, so that they could keep the audience engaged and fill the broadcast time effectively. This ensured that scheduled broadcast time to finish the match was on track and broadcasters of the tournament didn't suffer any financial losses.
