The final match of IPL 2024 is set to witness the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) facing off against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on May 26th at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. KKR secured their spot in the finals by defeating SRH in Qualifier 1 with a convincing 8-wicket victory. Sunil Narine has been a pivotal player for KKR this season, amassing 482 runs in 13 games.
On the bowling front, Varun Chakravarthy has been exceptional, claiming 20 wickets. Sunrisers Hyderabad, on the other hand, made it to the finals by winning Qualifier 2. T Natarajan has been a standout bowler for them, with 19 wickets in 13 matches. Additionally, Travis Head has been a crucial contributor with the bat, scoring 567 runs in 14 games.
The head-to-head record between these two teams shows KKR with a dominant edge, having won 18 out of the 27 encounters, while SRH has managed to secure 9 victories. Fans can expect another thrilling contest as these teams vie for the championship. One of the key factors that could influence the outcome of the final is the uncertainty surrounding dew. While it stayed away during the second qualifier, its presence on match day remains unpredictable.
Even KKR’s captain, Pat Cummins, acknowledged the difficulty in making an educated guess about its impact. The final will be played on pitch #4, a red soil wicket, the same surface where Chennai Super Kings lost to Punjab Kings earlier this month. In that match, Punjab’s spin duo of Harpreet Brar and Rahul Chahar combined to take 4 wickets for 33 runs in 8 overs, aided by dew during their chase of CSK’s total of 162/7.
A spell of steady showers on Saturday evening briefly interrupted KKR’s practice session, prompting swift action from the ground staff. However, the weather forecast for match day looks clear, setting the stage for an exciting finale.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)
KKR have already got a taste of taking out SRH’s openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma early to devastating effect. Round 2 of Starc vs Head could be a great start to the final, even as the latter has been effective against left-arm pacers.
Should the KKR top-order have an off-day, Andre Russell’s abilities against the majority of SRH’s bowling attack will be the way out for the two-time champions. Russell has taken on Bhuvneshwar Kumar the most of the lot, hitting 97 off 37 balls in the IPL. Against Natarajan, SRH’s best bowler this season, he has smashed 43 off 26. Jaydev Unadkat has been taken apart for 24 in just 9 balls.
Probable XI: Sunil Narine, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer (c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)
In a venue where pace has been significantly more influential than spin, the 2016 champions will rely on the quartet of Bhuveshwar Kumar, Pat Cummins, T Natarajan and Jaydev Unadkat against one of the best top orders this season. Sunil Narine fell to Cummins a couple of days ago, but has also struggled to get away against Bhuvneshwar. One of KKR’s pulverisers with the bat, Venkatesh Iyer, has been dismissed twice in 7 balls by Natarajan, while Bhuvneshwar has conceded at a sub-100 strike rate to both Venkatesh and Shreyas Iyer.
This game will be a test of Cummins’s bowling management. KKR come armed with left-handers at the top (Narine) and in the middle (Venkatesh Iyer and Rinku Singh), minimising the scope for Cummins to use either of his match winners from two days ago (Abhishek Sharma and Shahbaz Ahmed).
Probable XI: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Nitish Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Abdul Samad, Pat Cummins (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, T Natarajan
Fantasy XI Suggestion 1:
Heinrich Klaasen, Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine (c), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, T. Natarajan (vc), Varun Chakaravarthy
Fantasy XI Suggestion 2:
Heinrich Klaasen, Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma (vc), Rahul Tripathi, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell (c), Pat Cummins, T Natarajan, Varun Chakravarthy
