2nd Innings:
Kolkata (114/2) Crush Hyderabad (113) By 8 Wickets To Clinch 3rd Title. Veknatesh Iyer (52*), Gurbaz (39)
Kolkata Knight Riders have finally ended their title drought by clinching their third IPL trophy thanks to their crushing 8-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in Chennai.
Chasing a below par score of 114 for victory, KKR rode on Venkatesh Iyer's unbeaten 52 and Rahmanullah Gurbaz's 39 to cruise past the finish line in the 11th over.
Iyer and Gurbaz shared a 91-run partnership for the second wicket, after Sunil Narine departed in the second over, to finish the job for KKR.
Highest Powerplay totals in IPL finals
72/1 KKR vs SRH Chennai 2024
62/0 GT vs CSK Ahmedabad 2023
61/1 MI vs CSK Kolkata 2015
61/1 MI vs DC Dubai 2020
WICKET! Sunil Narine c Shahbaz b Cummins 6 (2 balls). Batter gets deceived by the slower delivery which he looks to hit for a maximum but only ends up top-edging to the fielder running in from deep mid-wicket.
1st Innings Summary:
Dre Russ finishes with a 3-wicket haul as Kolkata Knight Riders bowl out Sunrisers Hyderabad for 113 in 18.3 overs. This is the lowest total in IPL finals' history.
Lowest totals in IPL finals
113 SRH vs KKR Chennai 2024 *
125/9 CSK vs MI Kolkata 2013
128/6 RPS vs MI Hyderabad 2017
129/8 MI vs RPS Hyderabad 2017
Mitchell Starc, who dropped Cummins earlier in this innings, held on this time at long-on. All 6 bowlers used by KKR captain Shreyas Iyer struck for him at crucial junctures in the match.
Andre Russell bagged the best figures of 3 for 19 while Mitch Starc and Harshit Rana took two wickets each. Spinners Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine were also among the wickets with one each.
It was a disappointing batting show from Hyderabad, who lost openers Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head in the first two overs after which they just couldn't recover due to the relentless pressure put on by the KKR bowlers. Captain Pat Cummins's 24 was their highest score followed by Aiden Markram's 20.
All Over For SRH In Chennai
WICKET! Pat Cummins c Starc b Russell 24 (19 balls).
WICKET! Jaydev Unadkat lbw b Narine 4 (11 balls)
WICKET! Heinrich Klaasen b Harshit Rana 16 (17 balls). Slower delivery outside off-stump is played onto the stumps by the batter. SRH 90/8 (14.1 ovs)
WICKET! Abdul Samad c Gurbaz b Russell 4 (4 balls). Super delivery from the West Indian as he gets the edge after bowling an outswinger on a fuller length, batter gets caught behind thanks to a brilliant catch by Gurbaz. Impact Player fails for SRH.
WICKET! Shahbaz Ahmed c Narine b Chakaravarthy 8 (7 balls). Another one bites the dust after playing a rash shot. Batter tries the slog-sweep but only gets a top-edge to short fine-leg. SRH 71/6 (11.5 ovs)
WICKET! Aiden Markram c Starc b Russell 20 (23 balls). The West Indian strikes in his 1st over as he bounces out the batter with a quick delivery. SRH 62/5 (10.2 ovs)
Lowest Powerplay scores for SRH in IPL 2024
37/2 vs RR Hyderabad
40/3 vs PBKS Mullanpur
40/3 vs KKR Chennai *
45/4 vs KKR Ahmedabad
WICKET! Nitish Reddy c Gurbaz b Harshit Rana 13 (10 balls). Another outstanding outswinger from the seamer catches the batter's outside edge and carries comfortably to the wicketkeeper. SRH 47/4 (7 ovs)
WICKET! Rahul Tripathi c Ramandeep Singh b Starc 9 (13 balls). Plays across the line against a full delivery on middle-stump but only gets a top-edge and gets caught at cover. SRH 21/3 in 4.2 ov.
WICKET! Travis Head c Gurbaz b Vaibhav Arora 0 (1 ball). Another beauty from KKR as Rana bowls an outswinger to take the batter's outside edge. This is Head's second successive golden duck against KKR this season. SRH 6/2 in 1.6 ov.
WICKET! Abhishek Sharma b Starc 2 (4 balls) - Bowls the perfect outswinger to clip the top of the batter's off-stump. SRH 3/1 (1 over)
Toss Update
Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins wins the toss and elected to bat first in the summit clash. Hyderabad have left out Abdul Samad while Kolkata will play with the same team.
Sunrisers Hyderabad Playing XI: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Nitish Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins(c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, T Natarajan
Kolkata Knight Riders Playing XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer(c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy
KKR vs SRH Preview
The Indian Premier League 2024 season is all set to come to a blockbuster end as Kolkata Knight Riders face Sunrisers Hyderabad in the final at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Both teams are evenly-matched on paper although, KKR hold the advantage of winning two matches already in the season against SRH.
The two-time champions also have the better head-to-head record (18:9) but no stat will hold any significance once both teams take the field at Chepauk on Sunday night.
Pat Cummins has won the Ashes, ICC Test Mace and ODI World Cup within a span of 6 months after becoming Australia captain last month. And he's brought the success and luck over to the IPL after taking over as SRH skipper.
KKR have lost just thrice this season and have remained undefeated by any team for a full month. Conversely, the SRH endured a prolonged wait until their 13th game to clinch a playoff berth, sealing a top-2 position with a victory in their final match.
Will KKR add their 3rd IPL title in the cabinet or will Cummins's winning run continue in major tournaments? The next few hours will give us the answer.
Pitch Report
The final match will be played on a red-soil pitch, potentially favouring the batters, unlike the black-soil track where Rajasthan Royals (RR) struggled against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Qualifier 2. Positioned more centrally on the square, this pitch is expected to offer more balanced boundary dimensions.
However, the looming uncertainty revolves around the presence of dew. While it's typically a factor, it surprisingly didn't manifest during RR's chase against SRH on Friday
Captains Corner
SRH Captain Pat Cummins: "I think data and analytics is there as a tool to use but it's just one factor in the decision making process. In T20 you play a lot of games but no two games are exactly the same. It's different wickets, different oppositions, different forms so data can only take you so far. I think there's still a strong place for gut feel and intuition."
KKR Captain Shreyas Iyer: "To be honest, I feel whatever the nature is going to provide to you at that particular point of time... if it [dew] has to happen, it will happen. You have no control over it. All you have control over is your skills and your abilities and how strong your mindset is tomorrow. I think basically you should focus on that rather than the dew factor."
