KKR start as favourites vs SRH

May 26, 2024 18:10

Welcome to the coverage of the IPL 2024 final between Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad in Chennai on Sunday.

Tactician par excellence Gautam Gambhir couldn't have envisaged a battle of brains with a more different kind of adversary than the smiling yet ruthless Pat Cummins as the in-from Kolkata Knight Riders face a spirited Sunrisers Hyderabad in a mega IPL final in Chennai on Sunday.

Marquee sporting clashes always pit one leader against another but this IPL final will be about Gambhir's brain, which is always ticking against Cummins -- a captain who has transcended boundaries to turn into a leader of men.

Somewhere along the line, KKR's Shreyas Iyer, who is playing his second final as captain, has turned into bit of a side-show as a global cricketing royalty in Cummins faces an IPL czar in Gambhir.

A decade ago, no one would have placed a bet on Cummins being a captain and winning the ODI World Cup, World Test Championship and Ashes in a space of six months, and now, leading SRH to their maiden IPL title would be the icing on the cake.

KKR have won both their games against SRH this season, including the recent Qualifier 1 match, in which KKR outwitted SRH with clever bowling plans.

In Chennai, KKR will again start as favourites SRH, whose big strength is their power-packed batting line-up.

The last time KKR played an IPL final in Chennai, it was against Chennai Super Kings in 2012 in one of the most epic contests, which established Gambhir's credentials as an astute leader of men.

Gambhir went on to win another title in 2014, which made him a sentimental favourite. Now he is on the cusp of becoming the man, who as captain and mentor has won the IPL trophy for the same team.

If one looks at man-to-man comparison, KKR tick more boxes in terms of overall match-winners, with Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, the two Iyers -- Shreyas and Venkatesh, the two Ranas -- Nitish and Harshit and spinner Varun Chakravarthy in their ranks.

However, SRH's uncapped domestic stars like Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Reddy have done really well along with out-of-favour India internationals like Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan and Jaydev Unadkat.

SRH's 36-run win over Royals on a difficult track will certainly boost their confidence but they also must realise that the Chepauk wicket will be tailor made for Varun (20 wickets) and Narine (16 wickets), who have been in stellar form through the season.

SRH's spin department might be short on confidence but not in terms of heart as Abhishek and Shahbaz Ahmed showed during their cumulative haul of 5 for 37 in 8 overs, which changed the course of the second qualifier.

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