BCCI photo.
Chennai: In Chennai’s renowned Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday, the mighty Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) returns for another successful final battle after 12 years since they snatched away the title from Chennai Super Kings at their home in 2012.
KKR faced the explosive and charged batting lineup of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) this time but to douse off the same.KKR outplayed the SRH in all departments to win their third title in the Indian Premier League, after 2012 and 2014, making an eight wicket win. The final clash between the giants was mostly onsided after KKR dominated at every turn.
KKR’s bowlers, led by stellar spells from Andre Russell (3-19), Mitchell Starc (2-14) & and Harshit Rana (2-24), bowled out SRH for just 113, the lowest total in an IPL final. In reply, the batters, led by Venkatesh Iyer’s 52 not out off 26 balls, chased down the total in just 10.3 overs to make it the second time the side won an IPL title in Chennai.
Chasing 114, KKR lost Sunil Narine cheaply when he went too early in his flick off Pat Cummins and the thick leading edge was caught by deep mid-wicket after hitting a pulled six. Venkatesh launched a counter-attack by dancing down the pitch to smack Bhuvneshwar Kumar for two successive sixes after glancing him for a four to take 20 runs off the third over.
From the other end, Rahmanullah Gurbaz brought out his cut and loft to take two fours, followed by outside edges, giving him two more boundaries. Venkatesh cut and pulled fiercely off T Natrajan for consecutive fours before flicking and swiping handsomely to take six and four, respectively, off the left-arm pacer, as KKR reached 72/1 at the end of power-play, also the highest total in a six-over phase of the IPL finals.
Gurbaz took over by sweeping Shahbaz Ahmed for six and lofting the left-arm spinner for another maximum, happening on either side of pulling Jaydev Unadkat for four. But Shahbaz had the last laugh by trapping a sweeping Gurbaz lbw.
Shreyas Iyer opened his account by reverse-sweeping Shahbaz for four, followed by Venkatesh getting his fifty in 24 balls, and he fittingly finished off the chase with a single to clinch the third IPL title for KKR. It is also the first time Shreyas becomes an IPL-winning captain on his second attempt after being excluded from the Test team and BCCI central contracts earlier this year.