What happened the last time KKR played an IPL final?
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will take on SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the final of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday, May 26.
KKR convincingly defeated SRH in Qualifier 1. Chasing a target of 160, the Knight Riders finished the match in 13.4 overs and qualified for the final. Mitchell Starc looked in fine form, and with impressive performances from Shreyas Iyer and Venkatesh Iyer, KKR will be feeling confident heading into the final.
Meanwhile, last night (May 24), SRH defeated Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Qualifier 2 and will be looking to take revenge on KKR and win their second IPL trophy on Sunday.
Coming back to KKR, this will be their fourth IPL final. They won the first two under the leadership of Gautam Gambhir; however, things didn’t pan out the way they would have wanted the last time they played an IPL final in 2021.
KKR couldn’t repeat the 2012 heroics against CSK in the 2021 final
The Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and decided to bowl first in the final at Dubai International Stadium. KKR started with a spin; however, the plan didn't go well as CSK scored 50 runs in the powerplay without losing any wickets. Things got worse when Rahul Tripathi had to leave the field injured.
Sunil Narine got the first breakthrough for KKR in the ninth over when he dismissed Ruturaj Gaikwad for 32. Then came Robin Uthappa (31 off 15), and he stitched together a brilliant 63-run partnership with Faf du Plessis in just 31 balls to take things forward for CSK.
Narine got rid of Uthappa but that didn't stop the flow of runs. Moeen Ali and Du Plessis added 53 runs in the last four overs to take Chennai to a total of 192. The South African remained unbeaten on 86 off 59 balls, while Ali scored 37 off 20.
In response, Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer started brilliantly for the Knight Riders and scored 55 runs in the powerplay. Things were not looking good for CSK at the halfway stage with KKR 88/0.
Shardul 'Lord' Thakur came on to bowl in the 11th over and turned the match in CSK’s favor by picking up two wickets (Venkatesh Iyer and Nitish Rana). Suddenly, things started going south for KKR as they lost Narine in the next over. Deepak Chahar got rid of Shubman Gill (51) in the 14th over, and Ravindra Jadeja virtually sealed the match when he took two wickets in his last over (Dinesh Karthik and Shakib Al Hasan).
From 88/0 in 10 overs to 120/6 in 15, KKR's hopes of winning their third IPL title looked slim. Thakur got the better of Rahul Tripathi in the 16th over, who came into bat late as he was struggling with the injury. Josh Hazlewood made the killer blow when he dismissed Eoin Morgan in the 17th over. The CSK Bowlers did an amazing job in the second half of the innings to ensure their side won their fourth IPL title by defeating Kolkata by 27 runs.