Kolkata: On the back of a strong performance by the bowlers led by Andre Russell (three wickets for 19 runs) and a brilliant half-century by Venkatesh Iyer (52 not out), Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets in the final of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2024) on Sunday to win the IPL title for the third time.
In the final match, Kolkata scored the most one-sided victory by scoring 114 runs for two wickets in 10.3 overs after bowling out Hyderabad for 113 runs in 18.3 overs. For KKR, Venkatesh Iyer played an unbeaten innings of 52 runs off just 26 balls while Rahmanullah Gurbaz scored 39 runs off 32 balls. Iyer and Gurbaz shared a match-winning partnership of 91 runs for the second wicket.
IPL 2024 Final: KKR’s dream comes true after 10 years
For 10 years, a team was waiting to lift the shining IPL trophy again. Every year she kept trying. Her fighters kept fighting and today the story of Korbo, Lodbo, Jeetbo came true in Chepauk. Guru Gambhir’s courage, Chandrakant’s strategy and KKR players have done wonders this season. This team has reached the final for the fourth time and has won three times.
Kolkata last won the IPL title in 2014 under the leadership of Gautam Gambhir, who is now the mentor of the franchise. But under his guidance and the captaincy of Shreyas Iyer, Kolkata once again won the trophy. Under Gambhir’s captaincy, Kolkata won the title for the first time in 2012.
Hyderabad’s decision to bat first after winning the toss proved wrong for them. Mitchell Starc gave such a blow to Hyderabad by bowling Abhishek Sharma brilliantly on the fifth ball of the first over that its innings could not recover till the end. It was not understood what happened. Hyderabad, famous for its explosive start, was completely destroyed by Kolkata for the second consecutive time in the knockout. Starc gave the initial blows in the powerplay.
Varun Chakraborty and Harshit took wickets in the middle overs. Russell took three wickets for 19 runs and the Hyderabad team collapsed like a pack of cards in no time. Captain Pat Cummins scored the highest 24 runs for Hyderabad. Aiden Markram contributed 20 runs, Heinrich Klaasen 16 runs and Nitish Reddy 13 runs. Hyderabad’s condition was such that its team could not even play the full 20 overs.
