Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], May 25 (ANI): Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), two of the biggest trailblazers of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL), will be taking on the title clash at the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai on Sunday.
KKR finished the league stage on the top of the points table with nine wins, three losses and two no results, giving them 20 points. They earned a direct spot in the final by defeating SRH in the qualifier one. SRH got a second shot at the title in the qualifier two against Rajasthan Royals (RR) and they made the most of it by defeating the Men in Pink by 36 runs.
Both teams have been incredible with the bat this season. KKR and SRH have posted six 200-plus totals this season, the most by any team. SRH has crossed the 250-run mark thrice, also making the highest IPL total over, 287/3 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) while the KKR has done it twice. When the tournament is all said and done, it will be looked as something game-changing, something that could bring a paradigm shift to the way T20s are played and the credit will go to these two teams.
It is a battle between two leaders, one seeking redemption and the other just aiming to solidify his legacy as an all-time great by pocketing another big championship. Shreyas Iyer, having lost his BCCI central contract after an all-time great campaign at the ICC Cricket World Cup last year and having got his red-ball commitments questioned amid fitness and form troubles, will make a huge statement if he guides KKR to their third title and first in 10 years. Iyer’s men are boosted by the return of their former skipper Gautam Gambhir, who now aims to win a title with the team as a mentor after getting two as captain back in 2012 and 2014.
On the other side is Pat Cummins, a captain who lifted SRH from inconsistency, dullness, and poor home outings that defined their last two seasons or so. Having won the ICC World Test Championship, and ICC Cricket World Cup, retained the Ashes series with Australia, an IPL title will add a lot to his legacy as a leader. With a T20 World Cup already under his belt as a player, Cummins could truly call himself the ‘world conqueror’ if he secures the biggest T20 franchise league in this world.
During the final, two heavyweight batting sides will collide. Though KKR will miss Phil Salt due to his international commitments for England, Sunil Narine (482 runs), Shreyas Iyer (345 runs), Venkatesh Iyer (318 runs) are destructive on their day at the top and middle slots. KKR also has a piece of well-oiled finishing machinery, filled with heavy hitters like Andre Russell (222 runs), Ramandeep Singh (125 runs) and Rinku Singh (168 runs). On the other side is the SRH’s six-hitting opening duo of Travis Head (567 runs) and Abhishek Sharma (482 runs). The supporting cast for this duo is Heinrich Klaasen (463 runs), Nitish Kumar Reddy (290 runs), Rahul Tripathi (156 runs), Abdul Samad (178 runs), all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed (207 runs), who are all capable of being the main characters in themselves on a given day, thanks to their international experience and power-hitting prowess. These few individuals are no doubt, to be spoken highly when T20 cricket experiences its next wave of change.
Another big battle will be between two Aussie superstars, Cummins and Mitchell Starc, two big buy fast bowlers who were purchased for 20.50 Crore Rs and 24.75 crore Rs. While one has proved his price tag with his fierce captaincy, a total of 17 wickets and some important cameos with the bat, the latter struggled and had some expensive spells with the ball before the ‘Big Match Starc’ turned up in the qualifier one with a three wicket haul. Which Aussie prevails, will be interesting to see.
Both teams have their own strengths in bowling. While the pace battery of KKR consisting of Starc, youngsters Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora and Russell have done marvelouslly, it is their spin duo of Varun Chakravarthy (20 wickets) and Narine (16 wickets) that has been more dominant, restricting the run of flow everywhere they go. They will be an interesting in a match-up against spin-hitters like Head, Abhishek and Klaasen. On the other side is the pace attack of Orange Army, consisting of likes of Cummins, experience Indian swing specialist Bhuvneshwar Kumar (11 wickets), yorker macine T Natrajan (19 wickets) and domestic veteran Jaydev Unadkat (eight wickets). Spin bowling of Abhishek, Aiden Markram and Shahbaz is a plus for SRH.
Irrespective of who comes out on top, the cricket fans and the sport itself will win, fortunate enough to witness what could the final game of a game-changing IPL.
Sunrisers Hyderabad Squad: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Nitish Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Abdul Samad, Pat Cummins(c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Jaydev Unadkat, Shahbaz Ahmed, Umran Malik, Sanvir Singh, Glenn Phillips, Mayank Markande, Mayank Agarwal, Washington Sundar, Anmolpreet Singh, Upendra Yadav, Jhatavedh Subramanyan, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Marco Jansen, Akash Maharaj Singh
Kolkata Knight Riders Squad: Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer(c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Anukul Roy, Manish Pandey, Nitish Rana, Srikar Bharat, Sherfane Rutherford, Dushmantha Chameera, Chetan Sakariya, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Sakib Hussain, Suyash Sharma, Allah Ghazanfar. (ANI)
