Chennai: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) secured their third Indian Premier League (IPL) championship with a dominant eight-wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in a one-sided final on Sunday.
After losing the toss, KKR delivered an exceptional bowling performance, restricting SRH to 113, the lowest total ever recorded in an IPL final.
KKR chased down the target of 114 with 57 balls to spare. Venkatesh Iyer led the charge, remaining unbeaten with 52 runs off 26 balls.
Mitchell Starc (2/14), Andre Russell (3/19), and Harshit Rana (2/24) were the standout bowlers for KKR, as SRH struggled throughout the match.
Opting to bat first, SRH faced an early collapse, losing key players Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head with just six runs on the board. Head was dismissed for a first-ball duck by a superb outswinger. Prior to that, Abhishek was bowled by Starc on the fifth ball of the first over with an exceptional delivery that opened up the left-hander and clipped the top of the off stump.
SRH’s troubles continued as Starc took the wicket of Rahul Tripathi, leaving them at 21/3 in the fifth over. First-change bowler Harshit Rana then dismissed Nitish Reddy (13), and Andre Russell took the wicket of Aiden Markram in his first over, reducing SRH to 62/5 in the 11th over.
SRH could not recover from this precarious position.
Brief Scores:
- Sunrisers Hyderabad: 113 all out in 18.3 overs (Pat Cummins 24; Mitchell Starc 2/14, Andre Russell 3/19, Harshit Rana 2/24).
- Kolkata Knight Riders: 114 for 2 in 10.3 overs (Venkatesh Iyer 52 not out).
