Chennai, May 26: An all-round performance from Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), including fiery spells by Mitchell Starc and Andre Russell and a half-century by Venkatesh Iyer, helped the Purple and Gold side secure their third Indian Premier League (IPL) title and their first in 10 years as they defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by eight wickets on Sunday at Chennai’s Chepauk Stadium.
Sunrisers, which set the T20 cricketing world on fire with their fierce hitting, sky-high run-rates, largely due to the opening pair of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, got the taste of its own medicine. In a battle of two big buys, the Australian stars Cummins (20.5 crores for SRH) and Starc (24.75 crores for KKR), it was the latter who prevailed.
During the run-chase of 114 runs, the opening pair of Sunil Narine and Rahmanullah Gurbaz could not put on a lengthy partnership. Narine was dismissed for just six runs in two balls, with SRH skipper Pat Cummins getting his wicket. Shahbaz Ahmed took a fine catch. KKR was 11/1 in 1.2 overs.
Venkatesh Iyer joined Gurbaz and took the run-chase forward. The left-handed Venkatesh started Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s third over with a four, six and then another six. 20 runs came from the over.
With a boundary on delivery by Cummins, Gurbaz helped KKR reach the 50-run mark in 4.1 overs.
The final over of the powerplay by T Natrajan also proved to be a run-fest, with Iyer getting three fours and a six over deep square leg in his over, which gave a total of 20 runs to KKR.
At the end of the powerplay after six overs, KKR was 72/1, with Iyer (40*) and Gurbaz (21*) unbeaten.
Kolkata marched towards the winning total with their brutal hitting, giving SRH a taste of their own medicine. With a six by Iyer over long-off, KKR crossed the 100-run mark in 8.4 overs.