In March this year, the official full schedule of IPL 2024 was yet to be announced by the BCCI. At that time, while addressing the Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) squad for the first time as the team's new mentor, Gautam Gambhir had inadvertently revealed the date of the IPL final. Just over two months after that day, the World Cup winner's words have turned prohpetic.
KKR, who topped the points table in the league stage, defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by eight wickets in Qualifier 1 on Tuesday as 'Player of the Match' Mitchell Starc set up Kolkata's win by limiting the Sunrisers to 159 with his spell of 3 for 34. The two-times former champions chased down the target in just 13.4 overs, thanks to unbeaten half-centuries by skipper Shreyas Iyer (58* off 24 balls) and Venkatesh Iyer (51* off 28).
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The win booked KKR a spot in the final. Their opponent in the title clash will be decided after Qualifier 2, which will be played between SRH and the team winning the Eliminator on Wednesday, where the 2008 champions Rajasthan Royals take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Ahmedabad.
The Qualifier 2 is scheduled for May 24 and the final is on May 26, both in Chennai.
Interestingly, on March 16, when the full IPL schedule was still not known and was dependent on the dates of the General Elections in the country, KKR posted a video of Gambhir talking to the KKR squad.
In that video, Gambhir mentioned May 26 as the date of the final, when he wanted KKR to be one of the two teams having a shot at the title.
"On 26th May, we should be there, giving everything possible; and it starts from today...So if we walk the same path and if we fight, I am sure we are going to achieve a lot of success," Gambhir, who was the captain of KKR's IPL-winning team in 2012 and 2014, had said in the video.
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Over two months down the line, his words have turned prophetic and KKR will be playing their fourth IPL final on May 26.
Gambhir, who was a member of India's 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 ODI World Cup winning teams, is now reportedly also in the running for the post of Team India's head coach to replace Rahul Dravid whose tenure ends after the T20 World Cup this June.
