“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.

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.

Last December, when Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins went for over ₹45 crore collectively at the auction, it looked like the Indian Premier League market had gone berserk.

Recency bias was the oft-cited explanation, for the two speedsters had played an instrumental role in Australia’s 50-over World Cup win just a month earlier. It didn’t matter that Starc had last played in the IPL in 2015 and Cummins a grand total of 12 IPL matches since 2020.

Kolkata Knight Riders paid a whopping ₹24.75 crores for Starc and Sunrisers Hyderabad splurged ₹20.50 crores on Cummins. Two bonafide Test greats, with enviable ODI records, had laughed their way to the bank in the bespoke world of T20 cricket.

More than five months after that frenzied afternoon in Dubai, Starc and Cummins will line up for the IPL final at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on May 26, having proved their penny’s worth and every critic wrong. Starc has scalped 15 wickets in KKR’s commanding run to the summit clash while Cummins, with his midas captaincy touch, has had his best-ever IPL with 17 wickets.

It helps that both are part of robust T20 outfits. KKR, astutely led by Shreyas Iyer, last lost a match exactly a month ago and reserved its best for Qualifier 1 where it walloped SRH by eight wickets. Sunrisers, despite being not so clinical, has redefined T20 batting this season, with Travis Head — another World Cup winner from Australia — and Abhishek Sharma pummelling many attacks into submission.

So wholesome an outfit has KKR been that even the loss of the in-form opener Phil Salt hasn’t seemingly affected the balance as Afghan Rahmanullah Gurbaz shone in Qualifier 1 in his first visit to the crease. Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer and Andre Russell have come to the party when required; only Rinku Singh has remained largely subdued.

For SRH, Rahul Tripathi has thrived in three straight games and, along with Heinrich Klaasen, has bolstered the middle-order. Particularly impressive was the way R. Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal were handled in Qualifier 2. This should bode well for the team ahead of another spin test against Varun Chakravarthy and Narine.

New heroes

The biggest gain for SRH from Friday’s shootout was the unearthing of new heroes, with the unheralded spin bowlers in Shahbaz Ahmed and Abhishek coming up with match-winning performances on a dry, deteriorating pitch. Will lightning strike twice at Chepauk?

Heavens did open on match-eve, forcing KKR to call off its practice session after a few minutes. Sun didn’t beat down on Saturday as it usually does in May in these parts, but the weather remained warm and humid. As to what effect this has on the late-evening dew on matchday remains to be seen, for the absence of it in Qualifier 2 perplexed many.

However, amidst this mystery, what is certain is the fact that one of Starc and Cummins will leave the Indian shores with another colourful feather in an already ornate cap. A World Test champion, an ODI World Cup winner, a T20 World titlist will also be an IPL top dog.

Teams

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Aiden Markram, Abdul Samad, Nitish Reddy, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, T Natarajan, Mayank Markande, Umran Malik, Anmolpreet Singh, Glenn Phillips (wk), Rahul Tripathi, Washington Sundar, Upendra Yadav (wk), Jhathavedh Subramanyan, Sanvir Singh, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Marco Jansen, Akash Maharaj Singh, Mayank Agarwal.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Shreyas Iyer (c), KS Bharat, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey, Andre Russell, Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, Anukul Roy, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Chetan Sakariya, Harshit Rana, Suyash Sharma, Mitchell Starc, Dushmantha Chameera, Sakib Hussain and Mujeeb Ur Rahman.

Match starts at 7.30 PM.

When Kolkata Knight Riders paid a record ₹24.75 crore for Mitchell Starc at the player auction last year, not many were convinced it was a wise purchase for a bowler returning to the IPL for the first time since 2015.

On Tuesday, the left-arm pacer justified his price tag and lived up to his reputation as a player for the big stage. Starc’s searing opening spell (4-0-34-3) in the PowerPlay broke the back of Sunrisers Hyderabad’s strong batting line-up as the latter finished with 159 in Qualifier 1 at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

That laid the platform for the stunning eight-wicket win as the Knight Riders booked a place in the summit clash in Chennai on Sunday.

The Aussie struck off the second ball of the innings, castling compatriot Travis Head who played an expansive shot off a delivery that swung away.

Starc could have picked up one more in the same over had Sunil Narine held on to Rahul Tripathi’s catch at backward-point when the batter was on four. In the next over, Vaibhav Arora accounted for Abhishek Sharma, who failed to clear the circle and a leaping Andre Russell.

With Starc swinging the ball at a brisk pace, skipper Shreyas Iyer decided to stick with the Aussie in the PowerPlay. And the 34-year-old delivered by producing a double blow in the fifth over. He had Nitish Kumar top-edging a pull and Shahbaz Ahmed playing onto his stumps as SRH slumped to 39 for four after opting to bat.

Just when the Knight Riders were on top, Tripathi (55, 35b, 7×4, 1×6) and Heinrich Klaasen (32, 21b, 3×4, 1×6) fought back for the Men in Orange as they stitched a 62-run stand off 37 balls for the fifth wicket.

Tripathi had a second reprieve on 14 when he survived a close leg-before appeal off Starc — Shreyas did not review the umpire’s decision — and went on to boost his side’s total.

Chasing a modest target, KKR openers Narine and Rahamanullah Gurbaz got their team off to a flier, scoring 63 in the PowerPlay. Then the two Iyers — Venkatesh (51 n.o., 28b, 5×4, 4×6), and Shreyas (58 n.o., 24b, 5×4, 4×6) — unleashed a range of shots during their unbroken 97-run partnership.

Venkatesh gave the charge to the pacers, smashing them down the ground and used his long levers to slog-sweep the spinners for huge sixes on the leg-side. Shreyas completed the job in style, hammering Head for three sixes and a four as KKR cantered home in the 14th over.

SCOREBOARD

SUNRISERS HYDERABAD

Travis Head b Starc 0 (2b), Abhishek Sharma c Russell b Vaibhav 3 (4b), Rahul Tripathi run out 55 (35b, 7×4, 1×6), Nitish Kumar c Gurbaz b Starc 9 (10b, 1×4), Shahbaz Ahmed b Starc 0 (1b), Heinrich Klaasen c Rinku b Varun 32 (21b, 3×4, 1×6), Abdul Samad c Shreyas b Harshit 16 (12b, 2×6), Sanvir Singh (Impact Player for Abhishek) b Narine 0 (1b), Pat Cummins c Gurbaz b Russell 30 (24b, 2×4, 2×6), Bhuvneshwar Kumar lbw b Varun 0 (4b), Vijayakanth Viyaskanth (not out) 7 (5b); Extras (w-5, nb-2): 7; Total (in 19.3 overs): 159.

FALL OF WICKETS

1-0 (Head, 0.2 overs), 2-13 (Abhishek, 1.5), 3-39 (Nitish, 4.5), 4-39 (Shahbaz, 4.6), 5-101 (Klaasen, 10.6), 6-121 (Tripathi, 13.2), 7-121 (Sanvir, 13.3), 8-125 (Samad, 14.4), 9-126 (Bhuvneshwar, 15.6).

KNIGHT RIDERS BOWLING

Starc 4-0-34-3, Vaibhav 2-0-17-1, Harshit 4-0-27-1, Narine 4-0-40-1, Russell 1.3-0-15-1, Varun 4-0-26-2.

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS

Rahmanullah Gurbaz c Viyaskanth b Natarajan 23 (14b, 2×4, 2×6), Sunil Narine c Viyaskanth b Cummins 21 (16b, 4×4), Venkatesh Iyer (not out) 51 (28b, 5×4, 4×6), Shreyas Iyer (not out) 58 (24b, 5×4, 4×6); Extras (lb-9, w-2): 11; Total (for two wkts. in 13.4 overs): 164.

FALL OF WICKETS

1-44 (Gurbaz, 3.2), 2-67 (Narine, 6.2).

SUNRISERS BOWLING

Bhuvneshwar 3-0-28-0, Cummins 3-0-38-1, Natarajan 3-0-22-1, Viyaskanth 2-0-22-0, Head 1.4-0-32-0, Nitish 1-0-13-0.

Toss: SRH; PoM: Starc.