Starc & Co restrict SRH to 159, KKR race to target in 13.4 overs
AHMEDABAD: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) batters didn't let go to waste the hard work put in by the bowlers as they sauntered to 160 set by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in 13.4 overs with eight wickets in hand and reach the final of IPL 2024 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.
Southpaw Venkatesh Iyer (51 off 28b; 5x4, 4x6) and captain Shreyas Iyer (58 off 24b; 5x4, 4x6) blasted aggressive half-centuries as the Purple Brigade dominated SRH to triumph with 38 balls to spare.
The final will be played in Chennai on Sunday.
Openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (23 off 14b; 2x4, 2x6) and Sunil Narine (21 off 16b; 4x4) raced to 44 off 20 balls. The Afghan batter, replacing influential Phil Salt, commenced his knock with a cover drive off pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar before top edging Pat Cummins for a six in the next over. He then smashed Kumar for a six over long-on before hitting him for a four in the same area. Left-arm pacer T Natarajan had him caught at cover by Vijayakanth Viyaskanth while Narine was caught at mid-wicket by the same fielder off Cummins' bowling.
When the captain joined Venkatesh in the middle, KKR still needed 93 runs and the duo blasted the SRH attack to all parts of the ground and stitched together 97 unbeaten runs in 44 balls to take the team home. Venkatesh smashed Sri Lankan spinner Viyaskanth for two maximums over the midwicket boundary while Shreyas thumped part-time spinner Travis Head for three maximums and a four.
Earlier, Mitchell Starc's (3/34) rhythmic pace bowling as he combined fuller-length deliveries with short ones, helped KKR bowl out SRH for 159 in 19.3 overs.
Winning the toss and batting first, SRH lost opener Travis Head for nought after he played all around a Starc delivery. His fellow opener, the hard-hitting Abhishek Sharma (3 off 4b) was caught athletically by Andre Russell at cover off a fuller delivery by Vaibhav Arora (1/17) in the next over to leave SRH reeling at 13/2.
Number three batter Rahul Tripathi had a reprieve when a Starc yorker hit him flush on the boot when he was on 14 but KKR failed to review it. However, Starc, in his next over, undid Nitish Reddy (9 off 10b, 1x4) for pace with a short ball and had him caught by wicketkeeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz off a top edge. Southpaw Shahbaz Ahmed, who was sent in ahead of Heinrich Klassen, was castled by Starc off the first ball to leave SRH at 39/4 in five overs. His feeble attempt to push at a wide delivery saw his stumps uprooted.
Tripathi and Klassen resurrected the innings, first by taking Harshit Rana on and then by attacking off spinner Sunil Narine (1/40). Tripathi slammed Rana (1/27) for a maximum before Klassen hit Narine for a six. However, the introduction of Varun Chakravarthy (2/26) spelled doom for the partnership. After Tripathi reverse swept him for a four to bring up his half-century, an attempt by Klassen (32 off 21b; 3x4, 1x6) to hit him over mid-wicket fence saw him getting caught by Rinku Singh.
Then, Tripathi (55 off 35b; 7x4, 1x6) was run out after a mix-up with Abdul Samad, and a flurry of wickets saw SRH crawl to 126/9 after 16 overs.
1/10:Qualifier 1: KKR thrash SRH to reach IPL final
AFP
2/10:Mitchell Starc
<p>Mitchell Starc struck three early blows to help Kolkata Knight Riders storm into the IPL final with an eight-wicket thrashing of Sunrisers Hyderabad in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.</p>AFP
3/10:Most expensive player
<p>Kolkata bowled out Hyderabad for 159 as Starc returned with 3-34 in Qualifier 1, justifying his price tag of Rs 24.75 crore for the most expensive buy in IPL history.</p>AFP
4/10:Second ball strike
<p>Starc struck with the second ball of the match when he had fellow Australian Travis Head bowled for a second successive duck in the T20 tournament.</p>AFP
5/10:Starc strikes
<p>Starc's twin strikes in his third over sent back Nitish Kumar Reddy and Shahbaz Ahmed with successive balls as Hyderabad slipped to 39-4 in five overs.</p>AFP
6/10:Rahul Tripathi
<p>Rahul Tripathi (55), and Heinrich Klaasen (32), hit back in a stand of 62 before Varun Chakravarthy broke through with his spin to send back Klaasen.</p>AFP
7/10:Pat Cummins
<p>Tripathi was run out and wickets kept tumbling before Pat Cummins boosted the total with his 24-ball 30.</p>AFP
8/10:Rahmanullah Gurbaz
<p>In reply, Rahmanullah Gurbaz gave Kolkata a strong start with his 23 off 14 balls and fellow opener Sunil Narine made 21 before being dismissed by Cummins.</p>AFP
9/10:Venkatesh Iyer
<p>Venkatesh Iyer, on 51, and skipper Shreyas Iyer, on 58, remained unbeaten as Kolkata achieved their target with 38 balls to spare. </p>ANI
