Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) collide with Sunrisers Hyderabad(SRH) in the summit clash of IPL 2024 on Sunday, May 26. KKR won their two trophies in 2012 and 2014. SRH in 2016. After their struggles in recent seasons, these two teams have been at the forefront of the batting revolution in IPL 2024, and it is fitting that one of them will add to their tally of titles on Sunday.
After more than two months, the coveted IPL 2024 is all set to conclude with a pulsating final between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, on Sunday, May 26.
KKR vs SRH Previous Performances
KKR managed to finish on top of the points table for the first time, after registering nine wins and three losses from 14 games. They went on to beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets in a one-sided Qualifier 1 face-off. After dismissing the Orange Army for 159, at the iconic Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, the Kolkata raced to victory with eight wickets and 38 balls to spare.
After the debacle in Qualifier 1, Sunrisers Hyderabad had to take the longer path to the finals. They faced Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Qualifier 2 on Friday, at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Pat Cummins’ men scored 175/9 in their 20 overs before restricting Rajasthan to 139/7 in the second innings.
KKR vs SRH Head to Head
Previous meetings: KKR 2, SRH 0
Their first match was the third game of the season, at Eden Gardens, where Andre Russell powered KKR to 208 and SRH, propelled by Heinrich Klaasen, finished on 204. They then met in Qualifier 1 in Ahmedabad, after finishing No. 1 and 2 in the league, and KKR won by eight wickets and 38 balls to spare once Mitchell Starc bowled Travis Head second ball.
Only once before has a team won the IPL final after losing all their previous matches that season against their fellow finalists – when Mumbai Indians beat Rising Pune Supergiant in the 2017 final, after losing both league matches and Qualifier 1 to them. In six other seasons, the team that went into the final 0-2 or 0-3 against their opponents, ended up losing. KKR 18 – 9 SRH.
| Matches Played | 27 |
| Kolkata Knight Riders Won | 18 |
| Sunrisers Hyderabad Won | 09 |
KKR vs SRH Pitch Report
The legendary former English cricketer Kevin Pietersen said during Qualifier 2 that he had a discussion with the curator at the MA Chidambaram Stadium and got to know that the final would be played on a red-clay surface, similar to what fans are used to seeing in Mumbai. Therefore, a lot of runs can be expected on Sunday. Both teams have scored a plethora of runs throughout the season and have very strong batting line-ups. There was no dew in Qualifier 2 but teams will have to be wary.
A sudden shower from around 5.45 pm on the eve of the final forced KKR to cancel their training session. It lasted for more than an hour but the forecast for Sunday is fair: temperature in the 30-35 Celsius with high humidity, and less than 5% chance of rain, according to Accuweather.
The pitch for the final is a red-soil strip and could be more batting friendly, unlike the black-soil surface on which RR were spun out by SRH in Qualifier 2. It is also more centrally located on the square, which means the boundary dimensions will be more even. The big question, however, is whether there will be dew. There usually is, but there wasn’t during RR’s chase against SRH on Friday.
The uncertainty of dew. It stayed away just two nights ago in the second qualifier but what transpires on Sunday is unknown. Even Pat Cummins admitted there wasn’t a way of making an educated guess about its arrival or otherwise. The final will be played on pitch #4, a red soil wicket. It’s the same pitch where CSK lost to PBKS at the start of this month, with Punjab’s spin pair of Harpreet Brar and Rahul Chahar picking 4 for 33 in 8 overs between them. On that day, PBKS were assisted by dew in their chase of CSK’s 162/7.
A spell of steady showers swung the ground staff into action on Saturday evening and cut KKR’s practice session short but the forecast for match day appears to be clear.
KKR vs SRH Big Picture Did you think it would be KKR vs SRH
They’ve got here by playing astonishing cricket: KKR and SRH have scored faster than any team ever has in an IPL season. After four other sides began with regulation totals in the first two games of the season, KKR and SRH went crashbangwallop against each other at Eden Gardens, and never stopped swinging. They forced the rest to level up too and the ones that couldn’t had no chance of competing.
KKR won their two trophies in 2012 and 2014. SRH in 2016. After their struggles in recent seasons, these two teams have been at the forefront of the batting revolution in IPL 2024, and it is fitting that one of them will add to their tally of titles on Sunday.
KKR vs SRH Team news and Impact Player strategy
KKR vs SRH In the spotlight: Shreyas Iyer and Pat Cummins
Shreyas Iyer is the only captain to lead two different franchises to the IPL final: Delhi Capitals in 2020 and KKR this year. The last few months have been turbulent for Shreyas. He struggled with a back injury after the 2023 ODI World Cup, was dropped from India’s Test side, lost his BCCI contract, and wasn’t in the running for a place in the squad for the T20 World Cup.
And though he’s scoring faster than he ever has this IPL (345 runs at a strike rate of 146.19), he’s had a fairly non-descript season as a batter. Most of his runs have come after the top order has done the heavy lifting. His most impactful innings, however, came against SRH in Qualifier 1 – 58 not out off 24 balls in the chase – and in the absence of the prolific Phil Salt at the top, he could be called upon once again to play an innings of substance.
As captain of Australia, Pat Cummins has won a World Test Championship, retained the Ashes in England and won the ODI World Cup in India, all in the last 12 months. But if he leads SRH to the IPL title as an overseas captain in his first ever leadership gig in T20 cricket, that could be his most impressive achievement yet.
He’s their second highest wicket-taker this season (17 with an economy of 9.29) but he too has had an understated season with no headlining performance. If he delivers when it matters most – like he did in Ahmedabad in November – don’t be surprised.
KKR vs SRH Vital stats that matters
- KKR’s bowlers are in red-hot form. They have taken 47 wickets in their last five completed matches – the most by any team in a five-match stretch in the history of the IPL. Their bowlers have a collective average of 16 and economy of 7.95 in this period, a huge improvement from the average of 31.38 and economy of 10 in their first eight games. With both KKR and SRH having line-ups full of explosive batters, the bowling could make the difference.
- Qualifier 1 was the first time Head faced Starc in a T20 and he was bowled for a duck second ball. If he gets past Starc in Chennai, we will be entering new match-up territory. Head has faced only 14 balls from Narine and Russell, and none from Varun.
- Abhishek Sharma has a poor match-up against Russell (two dismissals in 12 balls) but if he gets to face KKR’s spinners, he strikes at more than 175 against both Varun and Narine.
- Klaasen was the danger man for KKR in their first match against SRH this season. He has a T20 strike rate of more than 200 against Varun and Starc, and 166.67 against Narine, with only one dismissal in 42 balls. Russell, however, has kept Klaasen quiet – conceding only 12 runs off ten balls.
KKR vs SRH Probable Playing XIs
Kolkata Knight Riders:
Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK), Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer (C), Nitish Rana, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy.
Impact Player- Vaibhav Arora
Sunrisers Hyderabad:
Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Reddy, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen (WK), Shahbaz Ahmed, Abdul Samad, Pat Cummins (C), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat.
Impact Player- T Natarajan
KKR vs SRH Fantasy XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK), Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer , Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Heinrich Klaasen (WK), Shahbaz Ahmed, Varun Chakravarthy, T Natarajan
KKR vs SRH Probable Best Players of the Match
Probable Best Batter of the Match:
After registering back-to-back ducks, Travis Head scored a 28-ball 34 in Qualifier 2 but didn’t look anywhere near his fluent best. However, the southpaw is known for playing some spectacular knocks in the finals of big tournaments. If he gets going, KKR bowlers will have their tasks cut out. Head is the fourth-highest run-getter in IPL 2024, having amassed 567 runs from 14 matches at an average of 43.62 and a strike rate of 192.20.
Probable Best Bowler of the Match:
Ace mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy needs four wickets to equal Harshal Patel at the top of the list of wicket-takers in IPL 2024. The mystery spinner has bagged 20 wickets from 13 matches so far at an average of 19.65 and a strike rate of 14.40. In Qualifier 1, he bowled a brilliant spell of 2/26 in his four overs. His duel with Heinrich Klaasen through the middle overs will be intriguing to watch.
KKR vs SRH Match Prediction
Scenario 1
Kolkata Knight Riders win the toss and opt to bowl.
Power Play score: 60-70
First Innings Score: 200-210
Kolkata Knight Riders win the match.
Scenario 2
Sunrisers Hyderabad win the toss and opt to bowl.
Power Play score: 65-75
First Innings Score: 205-215
Kolkata Knight Riders win the match.