Kolkata Knight Riders won their third IPL (Indian Premier League) after a resounding eight-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the final.
The final took place at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Going into the final, Sunrisers had struck three of the four highest totals not only in this year’s competition but in all IPLs, as they racked up a tournament-record 287 as well as 277 and 266 across March and April.
However, this was not the case in the 2024 IPL final. Mitchell Starc set the tone for a brilliant KKR performance when he bowled Sunrisers opener Abhishek Sharma with a beauty in the first over.
Sunrisers never recovered and were bowled out for just 113, the lowest total in an IPL final. The unwanted record beats Chennai Super Kings, who scored 125 runs against Mumbai Indians in the 2013 final.
Every KKR bowler took a wicket with Andre Russell claiming 3-19 and Starc and Harshit Rana getting two apiece. After Sunrisers set a target of 114, KKR quickly worked on reaching that.
Venkatesh Iyer blitzed an unbeaten 52 from 26 while Rahmanullah Gurbaz scored 39 runs from 32 balls. Shreyas Iyer’s side raced to their target in just 10.3 overs and won the IPL.
Having finished top of the group, victory in Chennai secured a third IPL title for KKR and their first since 2014 when Gautam Gambhir was the captain of the side. Trying to hold back tears, Andre Russell said: “No words to describe.
“It means so much. I am happy that all of us were very disciplined and worked towards one goal.
“This franchise has done a lot for me and this is a big gift from all of us to them.” Venkatesh Iyer added: “Really happy with it.
“As Varun (Chakravarathy) mentioned, Abhishek Nayar deserves all the credit in the world. Some contributions go unnoticed, I want to make sure they don’t.
“This guy deserves all the credit in the world for the way he has been working for this franchise.” With this result, KKR is now the third most successful team in the history of the IPL after Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings who have won it five times each.
Led by Australia captain Pat Cummins, Sunrisers must wait another year to try and add to their solitary IPL triumph in 2016. Many of the players involved will now head to the West Indies and the USA for the Men’s T20 World Cup in June.
These include Sunrisers’ South African duo Heinrich Klaasen and Aiden Markram, and Afghanistan batter Gurbaz, who triumphed with KKR.
