With a commanding effort against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mitchell Starc helped the Kolkata Knight Riders advance to the IPL final. On Tuesday, they won Qualifier 1 by eight wickets.
Starc’s outstanding opening performance destroyed SRH’s strong batting lineup by taking three wickets in the powerplay. Rahul Tripathi made a vital fifty-five, but Heinrich Klaasen (32) and Pat Cummins (30) combined to knock out SRH for a mere 159 in just 19.3 overs.
SRH’s attempts vanished on a quiet surface in intense heat as KKR reached the manageable 160-run mark in only 13.4 overs. Leading the charge were Captain Shreyas Iyer (58 not out of 24) and Venkatesh Iyer (51 not out of 28), who made the victory easy.
Mitchell Starc – Player of the Match
KKR will now play in Sunday’s IPL final in Chennai, their fourth overall
In order to finish second in the points standings, SRH overcame Rajasthan Royals on the last day of the league stage. They will now go to Chennai in an attempt to qualify for the summit match, which is scheduled for May 24.
On Wednesday, the Pat Cummins-led team will play the Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bengaluru winner of the eliminator.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz (23) performed admirably in his maiden game of the season, making two vital grabs behind the wicket and scoring a rapid 23 off of 14 balls at the top that included two sixes and as many fours. In a flash, KKR reached their fifty after pursuing a subpar goal.
Shortly after the powerplay that united Venkatesh and Shreyas, Sunil Narine, 21, passed away. They finished with a comfortable victory, putting up 97 runs for the third wicket. Moreover, Shreyas was lucky because in the tenth over, a paddle sweep from Viyaskanth Vijaykanth bounced off SRH keeper Heinrich Klaasen, who went for the catch.
Although Klaasen had the ball in his grip and was on the verge of colliding with Rahul Tripathi, the short midwicket fielder, he was unable to cling onto it. Shortly after, Head offered the KKR captain another lifeline as he fumbled a regular catch off T Natarajan in the 11th over, making things worse for SRH.
If Shreyas was happy to tinker with the ball and stash the occasional ball for boundaries, Venkatesh outscored his captain with a quick half-century that came off just 28 balls. But with a flurry of boundaries to close off the game, Shreyas passed his younger companion. On 51 off 28 balls, Venkatesh, for his part, stayed unblemished with five fours and four sixes.
Previously, Starc, the tall Australian speedster, benefited from using his primary ability of bowling quickly and swinging the ball. On the second delivery of the match, he set the tone in favour of KKR by rattling the stumps of SRH Marauder Head. Third-highest run scorer in the IPL Head was all over the place as he launched into a wild heave against his countryman, who pitched and knocked down the off and middle stumps to remove the batsman for a second straight duck. However, the ball nipped away from him.
Along with dismissing Nitish Reddy (9) and forcing Shahbaz Ahmed (0) to chop one onto his stumps, Starc also placed KKR well in control during the powerplay.
After Head was eliminated from the game early, SRH looked on Abhishek Sharma to carry them through, but the left-hander was also limited to a poor performance.
Abhishek, who has more often than not this season flawlessly found openings and produced breathtaking shots, played one weakly towards cover where Andre Russell perfectly timed his leap and used both of his hands to finish the dismissal, off Vaibhav Aro.
