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Shreyas Iyer’s Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will take on the Pat Cummins-led SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the IPL 2024 final at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday (May 26). Table-toppers KKR finished atop the points table and beat Sunrisers in Qualifier 1. Meanwhile, second-placed SRH defeated Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Qualifier 2 to advance to the final.
The two teams have locked horns 27 times in the IPL, with the Knight Riders leading the SunRisers by 18:9. KKR have beaten SRH twice this season by four runs (league match) and eight wickets (playoff).
KKR’s scorecard from their last IPL match
The Knight Riders beat the SunRisers by eight wickets in their last IPL faceoff in Qualifier 1 on May 21.
Batting first, SRH were bundled out for 159 in 19.3 overs. They got off to the worst possible start as openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma departed early. Nitish Reddy and Shahbaz Ahmed soon followed the openers to the pavilion. Rahul Tripathi starred with the bat, scoring 55 runs off 35 balls in an innings laced with one six and seven boundaries before an unfortunate run-out.
Heinrich Klaasen, Pat Cummins and Abdul Samad chipped in with 32 (21), 30 (24), and 16 (12), respectively, to help the team go past 150. Mitchell Starc picked up three wickets for KKR, while Varun Chakaravarthy bagged two.
In response, the Knight Riders achieved the target with 6.2 overs to spare. Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Sunil Narine chipped in with 23 (14) and 21 (16), respectively.
Captain Shreyas Iyer led from the front, scoring 58 off 24 deliveries, hitting four sixes and five boundaries. The right-hander got multiple retrieves during his knock. Meanwhile, Venkatesh also slammed 51 off 28 with the help of as many boundaries as Shreyas. The Iyer duo shared an unbeaten 97-run partnership for the third wicket to take the team over the line.
SRH captain Pat Cummins and T Natarajan bagged one wicket apiece.
SRH’s scorecard from their last IPL game
SRH beat RR by 36 runs at Chepauk in the IPL 2024 Qualifier 2 on Friday.
Asked to bat first, SunRisers put up 175/9 in 20 overs. They suffered a poor start as Trent Boult dismissed Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram and Rahul Tripathi inside powerplay overs. Avesh Khan then dominated the powerplay overs by dismissing Nitish Reddy, Abdul Samad and Shahbaz Ahmed cheaply. Sandeep Sharma took the prized wickets of Travis Head and Heinrich Klaasen.
Klaasen starred with the bat, scoring 50 off 34 with the help of four sixes. Tripathi and Head also chipped in with 37 (15) and 34 (28), respectively. Shahbaz added a valuable run-a-ball 18.
Trent Boult and Avesh Khan bagged three wickets each for RR, while Sandeep Sharma scalped two.
In response, the Royals managed 139/7. They continued to lose wickets at regular intervals. Yashasvi Jaiswal looked good for 42 off 21 before throwing it away. Dhruv Jurel came up with a lone fight, scoring an unbeaten 56 off 35, hitting two sixes and seven boundaries.
Shahbaz Ahmed and Abhishek Sharma picked up three and two wickets, respectively. Skipper Pat Cummins and T Natarajan bagged one wicket each.
