Left Arm Around

Kolkata Knight Riders crushed a below-par Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets to claim their third IPL trophy at the MA Chidabaram stadium in Chennai on Sunday.

This was their first tournament victory in ten years, following previous successes in 2012 and 2014.

Venkatesh Iyer starred with an unbeaten 52 from 26, including three sixes, as KKR waltzed over the winning line with an astonishing 57 balls to spare.

SRH’s total of 113 all-out was the lowest of any IPL final in history.

Australian quick Mitchell Starc immediately set the tone in the showpiece match by bowling the in-form Abishek Sharma with the fifth ball of the contest.

Travis Head soon followed for a first-ball duck to Vaibhav Arora in the next over, before the rest of the SRH line-up were unable to salvage an innings that simply spluttered from start to finish.

Captain Pat Cummins top-scored with 24 as only four batters managed to reach double figures.

West Indies superstar and KKR veteran Andre Russell was the pick of the bowlers with 3-19, but Mitchell Starc (2-14) deserves the greatest of plaudits for the way he set the tone of the fixture up front.

He ended the 2024 IPL season with 17 wickets from 14 wickets at an economy of 10.61.

The left-armer was expensive at many points throughout the season, though he finally justified his record-breaking price tag of 24.75 crore with five crucial wickets in the play-offs.

Cummins’ men in orange will be hugely disappointed by a woeful final performance, but they can proud of a season where they won nine matches and passed the 200 mark six times.

End of Season Accolades

Orange Cap

Virat Kohli (RCB) 751 runs

Purple Cap

Harshal Patel (PBKS) 24 wickets

Most Valuable Player (MVP)

Sunil Narine (KKR)

Emerging Player Award

Nitish Kumar Reddy (SRH)

Best Bowling Figures

Sandeep Sharma (RR) 5/19

Best Economy (min. 10 overs)

Jasprit Bumrah (MI) 6.48

Fastest Fifty

Jake Fraser-McGurk (DC) 15 balls

Most Fours

Travis Head (SRH) 64

Most Sixes

Abishek Sharma (SRH) 42

Most Catches (non WK’s)

Axar Patel (DC) 13

Highest Strike-Rate (min. 100 runs)

Jake Fraser-McGurk (DC) 234.04

Highest Partnership

Shubman Gill & Sai Sudarshan (GT) 210

Highest Individual Score

Marcus Stoinis (LSG) 124*

Highest Team Score

SRH (287-3) v RCB at Bengaluru