Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) outclassed Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in all departments of the game to advance to the final of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. After Mitchell Starc's sensational opening spell helped KKR bowl out SRH for 159, blazing half-centuries from Venkatesh Iyer and skipper Shreyas Iyer made the target look like a child’s play. KKR won the game by eight wickets with 38 balls to spare.
Earlier, SRH captain Pat Cummins won the toss and opted to bat first. Mitchell Starc with the new ball knocked over Travis Head with a full delivery. Rahul Tripathi hit two boundaries in the first over. Abhishek Sharma could not make a comeback either and lost his wicket to Vaibhav Arora for a single-digit score. In Starc's third over, Nitish Reddy was cramped for room by a short ball. He got caught by Rahmanullah Gurbaz. After powerplay overs, SRH were 45/4.
In the eighth over, Tripathi hit the first six of the innings. Heinrich Klaasen attacked Sunil Narine as the mystery spinner conceded 18 runs in his second over. Meanwhile, Tripathi reached his fifty from 29 balls. Varun Chakaravarthy was introduced in the 11th over and he delivered with Klaasen's wicket. He contributed with a 21-ball 32. Abdul Samad got off the mark with a six. In the 14th over, he hit Samad for another six. On the next ball, he was involved in a confusion and Tripathi got run out. He scored 55 runs from 35 balls.
In the next over, Sanvir Singh got bowled. Samad could not make up for the mistake either and departed for a 12-ball 16 in the next over. Chakaravarthy returned and Bhuvneshwar Kumar got out lbw for a four-ball duck. After nine wickets were lost in the 16th over, Cummins and Vijayakanth Viyaskanth shared a crucial partnership. Cummins hit a six off Chakaravarthy. In the penultimate over, he hit Starc for a six and a four. In the final over, Andre Russell ended Cummins' fightback. He contributed with a crucial 24-ball 30 to take SRH's score to 159.
KKR batters unleash carnage
Gurbaz in his first game of the season got off the mark with a boundary. Cummins in his first over conceded 20 runs. Narine hit two fours whereas Gurbaz hit the first six of the innings. Gurbaz gave a similar treatment to Bhuvneshwar as he played the role of Phil Salt. T Natarajan in his first over broke the opening partnership. Gurbaz departed for a 14-ball 23. Venkatesh Iyer hit a few boundaries during powerplay overs as well. KKR had 63/1 on the board after six overs.
Cummins came back into the attack and dismissed Narine. He scored 21 runs from 16 balls. The Iyers did not let the run rate go down in the middle overs. At the halfway stage, KKR were 107/2. In the 11th over, Shreyas' catch was dropped by Head. He followed it up with a six. The onslaught continued and he reached his fifty from 28 balls in the 13th over. Head in hsi second over was hit by Shreyas for three sixes and a four. Venkatesh scored 51 runs from 28 balls including five fours and four sixes. The captain scored 58 runs from 24 balls including five fours and four sixes.
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