Mitchell Starc’s fifth ball of the final whistled past Abhishek Sharma and clipped off stump. Kolkata Knight Riders were on their way to the IPL title, and Sunrisers Hyderabad never found a way back.
Hyderabad were bowled out for 113, the lowest total in an IPL final. Starc’s opening spell took two wickets, and Vaibhav Arora removed Travis Head first ball, leaving Hyderabad 21 for 3. Every Kolkata bowler took a wicket. Andre Russell finished with 3 for 19, and Starc and Harshit Rana had two apiece.
The chase was over in 10.3 overs. Pat Cummins removed Sunil Narine early, but Venkatesh Iyer hit four, six, six to open his next over, and the contest was effectively done by the end of the powerplay. He finished unbeaten on 52 from 26 balls, in a stand of 91 with Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who made 39. Kolkata won by eight wickets at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on May 26, 2024, their third title and their first since 2014.
What the players said
“It was comprehensive today,” Kolkata captain Shreyas Iyer said. “There is no individual who has taken us to this position, it has been a cumulative effort.”
Starc, named player of the match, paid for a record 24.75 crore rupees (2.3 million pounds) before the season, and the price drew questions. He had not played in the IPL since 2015 and went wicketless in three of his first four games. “It is a great night for KKR,” he said after the final.
Cummins, Hyderabad’s captain, was blunt. “We were totally outplayed,” he said. He added that he loved how brave his players were all season, and called it “a great season.” Hyderabad’s only title remains the one from 2016.
Few expected these two sides to meet in the final when the tournament began a little over two months earlier. Cummins was captaining a T20 side for the first time.
Sources
- 2024 Indian Premier League final – Wikipedia
- IPL 2024 final result: Kolkata Knight Riders beat Sunrisers Hyderabad to win title
