What happened the last time KKR played SRH at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai?
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will lock horns with SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) to claim the coveted Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 title on Sunday (May 26). The MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai will host this riveting clash between two top teams.
The Knight Riders finished at the top of the points table with nine victories in 14 league matches. On the other hand, the SunRisers came second with eight wins in 14 appearances.
On both occasions this season, KKR have prevailed over SRH, and will be the favorites heading into this mouth-watering clash. In the first encounter at Eden Gardens, KKR held their nerve to win by four runs.
In the Qualifier 1 at Ahmedabad, the Kolkata-based franchise romped to a dominating eight-wicket victory.
However, the ground and conditions will be different in the summit clash in Chennai. Let's take a look at what transpired between the two teams when they met at Chepauk last time around.
KKR secured a close victory over SRH in Chennai in 2021
SunRisers Hyderabad won the toss and invited Kolkata Knight Riders to bat in IPL 2021 game at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. The reason for the neutral venue was due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill (15) stitched together a 53-run stand for the Knight Riders and provided a good start to the team. Then, Rana joined forces with Rahul Tripathi (53) to bolster KKR's dominance with a 96-run partnership. Unfortunately, the likes of Andre Russell and Eoin Morgan were dismissed for single-digit scores.
Nevertheless, Rana went on to slam 80 off 56 balls, with nine fours and four sixes. The southpaw was terrific to use the small side of the ground to his advantage and find boundaries at will.
In the end, Dinesh Karthik hit 22* off 9 to boost KKR to a formidable total of 187. The Afghanistan spin-twin, Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan, scalped two wickets each for the SunRisers.
In response, SRH lost their openers, Wriddhiman Saha (7) and skipper David Warner (3) early. But, the talented pair of Manish Pandey and Jonny Bairstow weathered the storm quite well and assessed the conditions to steer the team in the right direction.
With their counter-attacking approach in the middle-overs, Pandey and Bairstow were taking the game away from KKR. However, the-then KKR player, Pat Cummins secured the breakthrough as Bairstow smashed the ball right into the hands of the point fielder in the 13th over.
Although Manish Pandey remained unbeaten on 61 off 44, Mohammad Nabi (14) and Vijay Shankar (11) could not be potent enough as their performances. In the end, Abdul Samad (19*) struck two lusty blows, but it was too late as SRH were restricted to 177/5 and lost by 10 runs.
It will be interesting to see if the SunRisers Hyderabad can break the barrier to lift their second IPL title on Sunday.