“Everyone has a plan…until they get punched in the face,” Mike Tyson is supposed to have said, according to sporting folklore.
Sunrisers Hyderabad had a plan, until Kolkata Knight Riders punched it in the face to win its third Indian Premier League title with an eight-wicket victory at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on May 26.
SRH won the toss and batted first, betting on its now-patented target-setting ability and the belief that there would be no dew to hamper its bowlers like in Qualifier 2 versus Rajasthan Royals. But so lethal was the KKR bowling pack led by Mitchell Starc that SRH’s best-laid plans fell hopelessly flat.
Pat Cummins’ men chose the worst day to make their lowest total of the season, a paltry 113. Shreyas & Co. batted with whirlwind intent, allowing SRH not even a sniff, to chase down the score with more than nine overs to spare. KKR’s first IPL triumph was also at Chepauk, way back in 2012, with the now mentor Gautam Gambhir helming the side.
Sunil Narine hit the first ball he faced, from Cummins into the stands at deep midwicket. He perished the very next delivery, but it made his team’s intentions clear. In the third over, Venkatesh Iyer smashed Bhuvneshwar Kumar for two humongous sixes down the ground.
The left-hander would continue in the same vein, carting T. Natarajan for three fours and a six in the sixth over. At the other end Rahmanullah Gurbaz played a steady hand (39, 32b, 5×4, 2×6) before Venkatesh (52, 26b, 4×4, 3×6), like he had in Qualifier 1, carried his side home.
Earlier, Starc proved yet again that he was a man for the big occasion. In the very first over, he ended Abhishek Sharma’s nervous five-ball stay with a peach of a delivery that pitched on middle-stump and rattled the top of off.
Kolkata Knight Riders bowler Mitchell Starc celebrates a wicket during the IPL 2024 final against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Chennai on May 26, 2024.
| Photo Credit:
K.R. Deepak
Vaibhav Arora, who swung the ball both ways, struck the second big blow, forcing Travis Head to edge behind. When the in-form Rahul Tripathi top-edged a flick to Ramandeep Singh in front of square to give Starc his second scalp, SRH was reeling at 21 for three.
Aiden Markram hung around for a bit (20, 23b, 3×4), hitting Arora for two fours and a six in the final over of the PowerPlay to take SRH to 40 for three. But the recovery proved a mirage, as wickets fell at regular intervals. Nitish Kumar Reddy was caught behind off an express delivery from Harshit Rana and Markram holed out at long-on off Andre Russell.
Shahbaz Ahmed, the hero against RR, tried a sweep but was caught at short fine-leg. With no option left, Abdul Samad was summoned as the Impact Player and he lasted all of four balls, edging Russell behind to Gurbaz.
Cummins, batting at No.9, was SRH’s top-scorer 24 (19b, 2×4, 1×6). To be sure, the Australian is no mug with the bat, but if he is the leading batter in a side comprising Abhishek, Head, Klaasen and Markram, it does paint a grim picture. And so it proved to be.
Scoreboard
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma b Starc 2 Travis Head c Gurbaz b Vaibhav Arora 0 Rahul Tripathi c Ramandeep Singh b Starc 9 Aiden Markram c Starc b Russell 20 Nitish Reddy c Gurbaz b Harshit Rana 13 Heinrich Klaasen b Harshit Rana 16 Shahbaz Ahmed c Narine b Chakaravarthy 8 Abdul Samad c Gurbaz b Russell 4 Pat Cummins c Starc b Russell 24 Jaydev Unadkat lbw b Narine 4 Bhuvneshwar Kumar not out 0 Extras: (b-5, lb-2, w-6) 13
Total: 113 all out in 18.3 overs
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-6, 3-21, 4-47, 5-62, 6-71, 7-77, 8-90, 9-113
Kolkata Knight Riders bowling: Mitchell Starc 3-0-14-2, Vaibhav Arora 3-0-24-1, Harshit Rana 4-1-24-2, Sunil Narine 4-0-16-1, Andre Russell 2.3-0-19-3, Varun Chakaravarthy 2-0-9-1.
Kolkata Knight Riders (Target: 114 runs from 20 overs) Rahmanullah Gurbaz lbw b Shahbaz Ahmed 39 Sunil Narine c Shahbaz Ahmed b Cummins 6 Venkatesh Iyer not out 52 Shreyas Iyer not out 6 Extras: (B-4 LB-2 W-5) 11
Total: (For 2 wickets in 10.3 overs) 114
Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-102
Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling: Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2-0-25-0, Pat Cummins 2-0-18-1, T Natarajan 2-0-29-0, Shahbaz Ahmed 2.3-0-22-1, Jaydev Unadkat 1-0-9-0, Aiden Markram 1-0-5-0.
