KKR vs SRH Match Prediction: Who will win today's IPL 2024 Final match?
It's rather fitting that the two teams that have been the most aggressive with the bat will face off in the final of the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL). The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH), who have embraced what it takes to succeed in modern-day T20 cricket, have been a cut above the rest throughout the competition.
Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma have led the way for the Orange Army, while Phil Salt and Sunil Narine did the same for the two-time IPL champions. Salt is playing against Pakistan in a T20I series at the moment, but Rahmanullah Gurbaz is a worthy high-intent replacement at the top of the order.
Head and Abhishek couldn't come to the party in Qualifier 1 when Mitchell Starc and Vaibhav Arora reduced SRH to rubble in the powerplay. Starc has an excellent head-to-head record against his countryman across formats, but he'll know that the Hyderabad opening duo are such quality players that they can take the game away from the opposition on any day.
Meanwhile, Pat Cummins will be intent on adding another piece of silverware to his captaincy cabinet. Cummins has been the leader of the SRH bowling attack alongside T Natarajan, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar making a few important contributions now and then.
As far as captaincy goes, Cummins will have a worthy adversary at the other end. Shreyas Iyer may not be at his absolute best with the bat, but he has been one of the best skippers on show in IPL 2024. He could become an IPL-winning leader on Sunday, and he and his team would deserve it after the kind of campaign they have had.
Can SRH beat KKR for the first time in IPL 2024, in the most important game of them all? Or will the Knight Riders add a third title to their achievements in the league?
IPL 2024, KKR vs SRH Win Probability: Battle of the brutal batting approaches in Chennai
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KKR haven't even needed to use their middle and lower middle order very often in IPL 2024. Rinku Singh has faced just 113 balls, and Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, and Nitish Rana haven't had much to do either. That's a testament to how well their top four batters have done in the competition.
That might not change much in the summit clash. Bhuvneshwar hasn't been very penetrative on the whole in the powerplay, and SRH might have to ask themselves a couple of questions regarding their ideal combination as well. Shahbaz Ahmed was the Player of the Match in Qualifier 2, but KKR have plenty of left-handers and the wicket isn't expected to be as conducive to spin.
The Knight Riders have a world-class bowling lineup at their disposal. Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy have been leagues ahead of the other spinners, and Starc has an affinity for knockout games. Harshit Rana, who bowled KKR to victory in their first IPL 2024 meeting against SRH, is a canny operator as well.
On the whole, despite Salt's absence, KKR appear to be the better unit of the two. Their middle-order batters must hope that they don't deal with any rustiness, but the positive side is that their entire team would have had significantly more time to rest, recover and prepare.
Hyderabad have been prone to collapses similar to the one that transpired in Qualifier 1. And even when they've won matches, they haven't been completely convincing with the bat.
It's impossible to definitively predict the outcome of any knockout game, particularly one that's contested by two world-class teams. But as things currently stand, Shreyas Iyer and his men are the favorites and should be able to get the job done.
Prediction: KKR to win the IPL 2024 Final.