The final took 10.3 overs to chase and 18.3 to defend, and by the end Kolkata Knight Riders had their third IPL title. They beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets in Chennai on May 26, 2024, with 57 balls to spare.
That margin set a record. It was the fastest chase in an IPL final, and the shortest final the league has played.
How the final went
Hyderabad won the toss and chose to bat. It went wrong at once. Mitchell Starc bowled Abhishek Sharma for 2 in the opening over, and Vaibhav Arora had Travis Head caught behind for a duck soon after. When Rahul Tripathi fell, Hyderabad were 21 for 3 in the fourth over.
Aiden Markram made 20 off 23 balls. Captain Pat Cummins hit 24 off 19, with two fours and a six. Neither could drag the innings anywhere. Andre Russell took 3 for 19, Starc 2 for 14 and Harshit Rana 2 for 24, while Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy took one each. Hyderabad were all out for 113 on a run rate of 6.10.
Narine went early in the chase, caught off Cummins for 6. Rahmanullah Gurbaz made 39 off 32 balls with five fours and two sixes before falling leg before to Shahbaz Ahmed in the ninth over. Venkatesh Iyer reached fifty off 24 balls, and captain Shreyas Iyer finished the job with 6 off 3 balls. Starc was player of the match for his two wickets and two catches.
Records and the road to Chennai
Kolkata became the first team to win the IPL under different captains: Gautam Gambhir in 2012 and 2014, Shreyas Iyer in 2024. They also equalled the record for fewest losses in a single tournament. In the league stage they lost only three games, to Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings, had two washed out, and won the other nine for 20 points and top spot. They beat Hyderabad in Qualifier 1 to reach the final, their fourth. They had won in 2012 and 2014 and finished runners-up in 2021.
Hyderabad took second place with 17 points, then lost Qualifier 1 and had to beat Rajasthan Royals in Qualifier 2 to get another shot. It was their third final. They won in 2016 and lost in 2018. Sunil Narine was named player of the season after scoring 488 runs and taking 17 wickets.
