IPL 2024, Final, SRH vs KKR: Mitchell Starc, Harshit Rana and Venkatesh Iyer hand KKR win over SRH in Final. Kolkata Knight Riders (KRR) win the third IPL title.
Brief Scores: SRH 113 (Pat Cummins 24, Andre Russell 3/19) lose to KKR 114/2 (Venkatesh Iyer 52 not out, Pat Cummins 1/18) by 8 wickets.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) produced a clinical all-round display to beat SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in IPL 2024 final and win their third title in Chennai on Sunday. Kolkata first dismissed Hyderabad for the lowest IPL final score of 113 before overhauling the target in less than 11 overs. Kolkata had earlier won two IPL titles under Gautam Gambhir as skipper.
Key Takeaways from SRH vs KKR, IPL 2024 final - Winning team (KKR)
Starc proves his worth; Harshit continues to have a big season
Mitchell Starc had a horrible beginning to the season, leaking runs and struggling to pick wickets. But kudos to Kolkata management for sticking with Starc who kept on improving as the tournament progressed. He made the biggest difference in the play-offs, most importantly in the final. He dismissed an in-form batter in Abhishek Sharma with a beauty of an out-swinger. He also cramped Rahul Tripathi for room, and made him mishit, allowing Ramandeep Singh a simple catch. Starc took five wickets in the 2 matches of the play-offs, while only 12 wickets in 12 league matches, showing he is big-match player
Harshit Rana has also been a find of the season for Kolkata, picking up 19 wickets in 13 matches. He is the second highest wicket-taker for Kolkata after Varun Chakravarthy (21). Just like Starc, he also made a stellar impression in the final, picking up two wickets. He dismissed Nitish Kumar Reddy, and the dangerous Heinrich Klaasen, ensuring there was no fightback from the Hyderabad middle-order batters.
Venkatesh Iyer, the unsung hero of KKR
Kolkata’s winning campaign saw many heroes such as Sunil Narine, Phil Salt, Andre Russell and Harshit Rana, among others. But there was one unsung hero in Venkatesh Iyer who brought his top game in pressure situations, and bailed the team out on more than one occasion. His 52 not out in the final ensured Kolkata finished off the chase without breaking a sweat.
Earlier, in the league phase, Iyer played a few match-winning cameos to help Kolkata win a few tough matches. His top knock in the league phase was the 70 runs he scored against Mumbai Indians (MI) in the team’s total of 169 at Wankhede that proved to be enough as Hardik Pandya’s men were bowled out for 145.
Key Takeaways from SRH vs KKR, IPL 2024 final - Losing team (SRH)
Wrong toss-call cost SRH the title
It seems Hyderabad didn’t learn the lesson when they chose to bat first against Kolkata in the Qualifier 1 and struggled to put up a good score. Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins made the same mistake in the final as well, opting to set a target on winning the toss. It proved to be a blunder as Hyderabad openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma struggled to counter the early movements off the pitch and were dismissed for single-digit scores. Hyderabad lost the game in the first seven overs itself as they were reduced to 47/4. It was then too much to ask for from the middle-order batters. Eventually, batting became easier in the second innings as Kolkata batters chased down the target within 10 overs.
Read More: IPL 2024, Qualifier 2, SRH vs RR: Spin duo of Shahbaz-Abhishek dismantle RR chase; SRH reach final
Statistical Highlights from SRH vs KKR, IPL 2024 Final
Kolkata won their third IPL title in four finals. The only final they lost was against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in IPL 2021.
Shreyas Iyer is the fifth Indian skipper to win an IPL title after MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Gautam Gambhir and Hardik Pandya.
Kolkata won all their three matches against Hyderabad in IPL 2024.
113 is the lowest IPL final score, beating the previous total of 125/9 by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) against Mumbai Indians (MI) in IPL 2013.
Virat Kohli of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) emerged the highest run-getter in IPL 2024, amassing 741 runs @ 61.75 in 15 matches.
Harshal Patel is the highest wicket-taker in IPL 2024, taking 24 wickets in 14 matches.
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