Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) won the toss and decided to bat first against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Sunday in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 final at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. (Follow Live)
SRH skipper Pat Cummins said he was not expecting dew and that is why he chose to bat first. KKR captain Shreyas Iyer on the other hand said he was looking to bowl first.
KKR Vs SRH Playing XI
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Nitish Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins(c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, T Natarajan
Impact Subs: Umran Malik, Glenn Phillips, Mayank Markande, Abdul Samad, Washington Sundar
Kolkata Knight Riders: Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer(c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy
Impact Subs: Anukul Roy, Manish Pandey, Nitish Rana, KS Bharat, Sherfaine Rutherford
KKR had easily defeated SRH in Qualifier 1 to book their tickets to the final. Earlier in the season, KKR had beaten SRH by four runs in the only encounter between the two teams.
Iyer's KKR have been the best team of the season finishing the league stage at the top of the table and then booking a spot in the final in their first chance.
The batting, led by Sunil Narine's stunning form, has been among the best this season. Rahmanullah Gurbaz looked like fitting seamlessly in the void created by Phil Salt's departure for national duty.
The Iyers, Venkatesh and Shreyas, also are coming the game on the back of thumping fifties in Qualifier 1 against the same team.
The top order has done the heavy lifting and players like Rinku Singh, Andre Russell have not got the chance to go big.
KKR's bowling attack is also threatening especially with Mitchell Starc coming into form in the Qualifier 1. The spin duo of Narine and Chakravarthy has strangulated teams while young Harshit Rana has impressed.
SRH need their batting to overpower KKR if they are looking to turn things around after a disappointing show in the Qualifier 1 against the same team.
The dangerous trio of Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma and Heinrich Klaasen is again SRH's best hope of posting a formidable score.
The spinners did well in their win against Rajasthan Royals and SRH would want similar returns if the pitch is slow. T Natarajan and captain Cummins have done the heavy lifting in bowling so far this season but veteran Bhuvaneshwar Kumar has shown he can thrive under pressure.
