Finance
Unbeaten half-centuries by captain Shreyas Iyer (58*) and Venkatesh Iyer (51*) led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to a thumping eight-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Qualifier 1 and a spot in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 final at Narendra Modi Stadium here on Tuesday.
Hyderabad will get another chance to face KKR in the final when they play the winner of the Eliminator match between Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Chennai on Friday.
Chasing 160, openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Sunil Narine gave KKR an electrifying start in the Powerplay overs, scoring at a rate of more than 10 runs per over.
The first-wicket partnership lasted 44 runs in 20 balls before T. Natrajan made a breakthrough in the fourth over. The pacer removed Gurbaz with a score of 23 to put the team back in the game after a blistering start in the chase.
Venkatesh Iyer joined Narine in the middle and helped them score 23 runs before Pat Cummins brought Narine (21) into the attack in his first over following the powerplay.
Shreyas Iyer batted at No. 4 and helped the team to a match-winning partnership, allowing them to chase the target with 38 balls remaining.
Shreyas (58*) and Venkatesh (51*) accumulated an undefeated 97-run partnership for the third wicket, smashing their individual fifties during the successful run-chase. Both players hit four sixes and five fours each as they went berserk to take their side to the final.
Earlier, KKR restricted Sunrisers Hyderabad to 159 all out in 19.3 overs after the latter decided to bat first.
Hyderabad did not get the ideal start of the match as they lost attacking opener Travis Head again for a duck. Things got worse well inside the Powerplay as they lost three more wickets in the first six overs.
Pacer Mitchell Starc was on a roll as he got three of the four wickets in the powerplay. Abhishek Sharma (3), Nitish Reddy (9). and Shahbaz Ahmed (0) were picked cheaply as Hyderabad’s batters faltered in the high-pressure game. SRH were 45/4 after six overs.
However, Rahul Tripathi and Heinrich Klaasen’s presence in the middle gave some respite for the franchise as they played their shots freely despite being under pressure. The duo stitched a quickfire 62-run partnership off 37 balls as Tripathi struck a 29-ball fifty before Varun Chakaravarthy broke the partnership in the 11th over. Klaasen departed after playing a knock of 32 runs.
Abdul Samad joined Tripathi to add to the score, but a mix-up in the middle of the pitch ended his innings at 55. His knock contained seven fours and a six. In the late middle overs, SRH struggled to recover and continued to lose wickets as Sunil Narine and Harshit Rana joined the party for KKR. In the end, captain Pat Cummins scored 30 runs off 24 balls to help his team pass the 150-run milestone. Andre Russell ended his late attempt in the innings’ final over.
Starc was the pick of the KKR bowlers, finishing with 3-34, while Chakaravarthy claimed two wickets.
Brief scores:
Sunrisers Hyderabad 159 all out in 19.3 overs (Rahul Tripathi 55, Heinrich Klaasen 32; Mitchell Starc 3/34, Varun Chakaravarthy 2-26) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 164/2 in 13.4 overs (Shreyas Iyer 58*, Venkatesh Iyer 51*; T. Natarajan 1-22) by eight wickets.
Source:IANS
