KKR storm into 2024 IPL final , SRH dented by Starc early blows



Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL final again after 2021.  Shreyas Iyer & Co defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 8 wickets.  Mitchell Starc shines in a crucial match against Pat Cummins' team .  The 25 crore priced bowler put KKR in the driver's seat with 3 wickets in the first five overs.  In response to Hyderabad's 159 runs, KKR scored 164 runs for 2 wickets in only 13.4 overs.  Kolkata went to the final with 38 balls remaining in the 20 over match.



 Cummins won the toss and decided to bat first at Ahmedabad's 22 yards.  The opening pairing of Travis Head-Abhishek Sharma, which has plagued almost all teams, failed in the qualifiers.  Starc knocked over Head's  stumps on the second ball of the match.  Vaibhav Arora dismissed Abhishek Sharma (3) in the second over as he skied a catch.  Hyderabad got under pressure with 2 wickets for 13 runs.  Starc further cornered the opposition in his third over.  He dismissed Nitish Kumar Reddy (9) and Shahbaz Ahmed (zero) in the last two balls.  Starc, however, did not get a hat-trick.  Cummins spoiled his chances of a hat-trick in the 19th over.  Hyderabad's batsmen were under pressure from the start.  They were not able to take proper decision even in taking small runs.


Rahul Tripathi at number three and Heinrich Klaasen at number six brought Hyderabad back into the fight after losing 4 wickets for 39 runs.  


They scored 62 runs in the fifth wicket pair in an aggressive mood.  Sunil Narine was the primary pick of Hyderabad's two batsmen to counter-attack.  Especially the West Indies all-rounder could not stop Klaasen.  At this time, KKR returned to the fight again with a move by Shreyas who  brought Varun Chakraborty to the attack.  Klaasen (32 off 21 balls) fell off his ball with a high catch to deep square leg.  After breaking the pair, Rahul also got out by mistake.  He scored 55 runs off 35 balls with 7 fours and 1 six.  Disappointed by his mistake, Rahul sat with his head down on the stairs back to the dressing room for some time.  It didn't take long for his sitting picture to go viral.  After that, Hyderabad could not score much runs.  Abdul Samad scored 16 off 12 balls.  Cummins' 30 off 24 balls with 2 fours and a six in the latter end put Hyderabad in a fighting position.  SRH' innings ended on 159 runs with 3 balls remaining.  Cummins valiant innings put some score on the board for Sunrisers.  



 All bowlers of KKR got wickets on this day.  The most successful Starc took 3 wickets for 34 runs.  Varun's 2 wickets for 26 runs.  Russell's 1 wicket for 15 runs.  Vaibhav 1 wicket for 17 runs.  Harshit Rana took 1 wicket for 27 runs.  Narine's 1 wicket cost 40 runs.


Set to bat with a target of 160 runs to win, KKR were fluent from the start.  The new opening pair of Narain-Rahmanullah Gurbaj also gave the team confidence.  The Afghan wicketkeeper-batsman scored an free flowing  innings of 23 runs off 14 balls.  2 fours and 2 sixes came from his bat.  Narine made 21 off 16 balls.  He hit 4 fours.  Venktesh Iyer, Shreyas also played with confidence in Ahmedabad's 22 yards.   Cummins & Co  couldn't trouble them.  Hyderabad were forced to field an extra batsman as an impact player before the batting collapse.  It also weakened the bowling attack of Cummins.  Venkatesh remained unbeaten with a breathtaking  51 runs off 28 balls. He Hit 5 fours and 4 sixes including some clean leg side hitting.  Shreyas also played an unbeaten innings of 58 runs off 24 balls with the help of 5 fours and 4 sixes. Shreyas late hitting took KKR to a win in the 14th over as he played some great shots including his upper cut . Both the players launched a fierce assault on the SRH bowling plundering runs at will to finish the game in style . 


 Natarajan was the most successful of Hyderabad's bowlers with 1 wicket for 22 runs.  Cummins took 1 wicket for 38 runs.  No other bowler took a wicket.  Starc for his brilliant first spell was the player of the match .


 Even if they lose in the first qualifier, Hyderabad have a chance to reach the final of IPL. SRH will play the second qualifier with the winner of the eliminator between Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore on Wednesday.  If they win that match, they will get a chance to face KKR again in the final.

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