Chennai: A spirited Sunrisers Hyderabad will take on Kolkata Knight Riders in a clash of equals when the two sides clash in the Indian Premier League 2024 season final here on Sunday.
The final will be a replay of the Qualifier 1 in which KKR has thrashed the Pat Cummins-led Hyderabad in a rather lopsided contest at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Tuesday. KKR had thus straightway qualified for the summit clash while SRH had to beat Rajasthan Royals in the second Qualifier here on Friday to make to the final.
Both the teams will be eyeing for the the coveted trophy after toiling for over over two months. For SRH, throughout the season, their biggest asset has their opening pair of Australian Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, who have taken the opposition attack to task. Sharma didn't fire in the second qualifier against RR and he would be raring to go for the one final time in the tournament.
Head has been the batting mainstay for SRH this season and he would be keen to excel once again and show his mettle. The Head-Sharma duo would be keen to provide a blistering start, be it while batting first or chasing.
SRH also have a strong middle order and it helped them against Rajasthan Royals when Rahul Tripathi and Heinrich Klaasen chipped in with vital contributions. If the duo fires on all cylinders, it will be difficult to contain them.
This season has been good for the likes of Nitish Reddy, Abdul Samad and they would be eager to score runs in the all-important clash. Klaasen and Head will be the key if SRH are to lay their hands on the Trophy.
SRH also showed why they are one of the strongest bowling units in the cash rich league after they won by 36 runs in the second qualifier.
Pat Cummins will be keen to lead from the front and contain the KKR batters, particularly Sunil Narine, who has been giving his side aggressive starts and has variety of shots in his arsenal.
He would, however, need support from the likes of yorker specialist T Natarajan and Jaydev Unadkat, who is a seasoned campaigner.
For KKR, it is important that Narine fires on all cylinders and so does their costliest buy pacer Mitchell Starc, who ran the opposition in the first qualifier.
If Starc (3 for 34) repeats his heroics, then it will once again off day for SRH batters. Like the last game, the Australian quick will need support from co-pacers Vaibhav Arora and Harshit Rana.
All rounder Andre Russell will be another important cog in the wheel for KKR in all the three departments. Equally important will be the role of spinners such as Sunil Narine, who has been tad economical and Varun Chakravarthy.
On the batting front, all eyes will be Shreyas Iyer and Venkatesh Iyer in case Narine falls cheaply.
All-rounder Rinku Singh will also need to play his part to perfection if the Gautam Gambhir mentored side has to emerge victorious.
Can Pat Cummins, who led Australia to T20 World Cup, ODI World Cup and Ashes win, add another Trophy to his credit or could Shreyas Iyer finally emerge on the winning side, come Sunday evening the answer will be known. This will also be a rare final where no India player selected for the World T20 team.
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