Starc reality
Ahmedabad, May 21
Powered by Mitchell Starc, Kolkata Knight Riders stormed into the IPL final as the two-time champions produced a ruthless performance against Sunrisers Hyderabad for an eight-wicket win in Qualifier 1 here today.
Brief scores
- SRH: 159 all out in 19.3 overs (Tripathi 55, Klaasen 32, Cummins 30; Starc 3/34, Chakravarthy 2/26, Harshit 1/27) vs KKR: 164/2 in 13.4 overs (Shreyas 58*, Venkatesh 51*; Natarajan 1/22)
Starc produced a stunning opening burst of three wickets in the powerplay to break the back of SRH’s dangerous batting. Starc reaped the benefits of utilising his core skill of bowling quick and swinging the ball. He rattled the stumps of SRH marauder Travis Head off the second ball of the contest to set the tone in KKR’s favour.
We know the importance of the powerplay. Early wickets make a big impact. — Mitchell Starc, Player of the match
Starc also bounced out Nitish Reddy (9) and had Shahbaz Ahmed (0) chopping one onto his wickets to put KKR in firm control inside the powerplay.
They were eventually shot out for a mere 159 in 19.3 overs with Rahul Tripathi scoring a vital 55 while Heinrich Klaasen (32) and Pat Cummins (30) also fought hard.
On a benign wicket in steaming hot conditions, SRH’s fight petered out as KKR knocked off the innocuous 160-run target in a mere 13.4 overs with skipper Shreyas Iyer (58 not out off 24) and Venkatesh Iyer (51 not out off 28) taking them over the line.
KKR will play their fourth IPL final in Chennai on Sunday. “The rejuvenation was important for us. When you travel so much. It’s important to stay in the present. Today was the day we had to maximise, we did it and that’s what we thrive on,” said Shreyas.
“The way every bowler stood up on this occasion, the way they came in and took wickets, that was imperative. The attitude and approach of all bowlers was to take wickets and they did,” he added.
SRH, who had pipped Rajasthan Royals on the final day of the league stage to finish second in the points table, will now proceed to Chennai to have another crack at making the summit clash with Qualifier 2 to be played on May 24.
“You have these days in T20 cricket, when it doesn’t work out. We had few starts but didn’t go on with the bat. Not good with the ball. We all have played enough cricket, and going to a new venue (Chennai) helps us as well, so we got to keep this behind and move on,” SRH skipper Cummins said.
Eliminator: Battle Royal
Sanju Samson’s Rajasthan Royals will face a stern test of character as they look to arrest a shocking slide in the do-or-die Eliminator against an in-form Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
The Royals, at one stage, had looked set for a top-place finish in the league stage before a string of four defeats and a washout in the last game against KKR resulted in Sanju Samson’s side finishing third behind Sunrisers Hyderabad. On the other hand, RCB have sensationally fought their way back from the brink of elimination. After losing seven of their first eight games this season, the team led by Faf du Plessis hit a dream run and finally knocked out defending champions Chennai Super Kings a few nights ago to seal a playoffs berth.
