Knight Riders smash Sunrisers in IPL Final to cap super season

The Indian Premier League came to a somewhat anti-climactic end on Sunday evening, with the Kolkata Knight Riders defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets in the 2024 IPL Final.

Electing to bat first, Sunrisers quickly came unravelled.

Openers Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head both fell in the first two overs, with the later bagging a golden duck. First-drop Rahul Tripathi was soon back in the sheds for single figures as well.

A brief stand by Aiden Markram and Nitish Reddy gave Hyderabad hopefuls something to cheer about, but 47/3 soon became 47/4, then 62/5, 71/6 and 77/7.

The fact that fast bowler Pat Cummins top scored with 24 from 19 sums up SRH’s evening. This season, their batting lineup has done a brilliant job of asserting themselves, breaking several records. When it mattered, however, they were unable to.

The IPL champions no-one saw coming

Posted 114 to win, KKR had no thought of taking the conservative route.

As they’ve done all season, they came out swinging. Afghani opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz broke the back of the chase with 39 from 32, before Venkatesh Iyer led his side over the line with an unbeaten half-century.

Cricket bookmakers were barely able to separate the two sides heading into the season decider. The slight edge they gave to KKR turned out to be correct, as Kolkata mowed down SRH’s target in just 10.3 overs.

It was an outcome that few were predicting when the season kicked off two months ago. Pre-season outright betting put KKR as the least likely team to win the IPL, with odds of +1100 before the first match.

However, the Knight Riders were the standout team all season as they claimed their third IPL title.

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