Kolkata Knight Riders enter their 4th IPL final with thumping win over Sunrisers Hyderabad

Ahmedabad, May 21

Kolkata Knight Riders entered their fourth IPL final with a thumping eight-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 1 here on Tuesday.

Mitchell Starc stuck thrice in the powerplay as KKR bowled out Sunrisers Hyderabad for 159.

Rahul Tripathi top-scored for SRH with 55 off 35 balls while Heinrich Klaasen smashed 32 off 21 balls. The 62-run stand between Tripathi and Klaasen was the lone positive in an otherwise underwhelming batting effort.

KKR then gunned down the target in 13.4 overs, thanks to Venkatesh Iyer’s (51 not out) and skipper Shreyas Iyer’s (58 not out) unbeaten knocks.

SRH will get one more opportunity to make the final when they face the winner of the Eliminator in Chennai on Friday.

Brief scores

SRH 159 all out in 19.3 overs (Rahul Tripathi 55; Mitchel Starc 3/34). KKR 164 for 2 in 13.4 overs (Venkatesh Iyer 51 not out, Shreyas Iyer 58 out out; T Natarajan 1/22).