At one stage in the IPL final when his bowlers were ransacking Sun Risers Hyderabad, Kolkata Knight Riders mentor Gautam Gambhir, sitting on the sidelines with face wiped off all emotions as ever, was suddenly moved enough to clap. All his trump cards had come off gloriously on the big night. The out-of-form Aussie star Mitch Starc he had backed through his bad times, the uncapped Indian players like Vaibhav Arora and Harshit Rana in whom he had instilled self belief, the big guns like Andre Russell whose pride he directed into team’s goals and the out-of-favour gem Sunil Narine whom he coaxed into self- rediscovery.
It was the perfect script that even KKR’s owner Shahrukh Khan wouldn’t have often come across in his Bollywood career. When KKR brushed aside every opponent in the league stages to set-up a perfect finale with SRH, it promised a climax with many twists and turns. There was little to choose between these two teams. But on the biggest night of their summer, Kolkata stepped up their game to another level with an intimidating performance that made Hyderabad freeze.
After 10 years, including a near miss in 2021, the IPL trophy is now headed to Kolkata as Shreyas Iyer’s boys came up with a power-packed show to down Hyderabad by eight wickets and 57 balls to spare to make it the shortest final ever. Usually, they have done it with the bat, but this time it was their bowlers who blew away the opponents.
𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗠𝗣𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦 𝗢𝗙 #𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗔𝗜𝗣𝗟 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰 😍🏆
The 𝗞𝗢𝗟𝗞𝗔𝗧𝗔 𝗞𝗡𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗥𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗦! 💜#KKRvSRH | #Final | #TheFinalCall | @KKRiders pic.twitter.com/iEfmGOrHVp
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 26, 2024
The one who set them up for the ideal climax was Mitchell Starc. Last December as Kolkata splurged Rs 24.75 crore to acquire his services a question had popped up: Did KKR spend too much on a player who hadn’t featured in the Indian Premier League since 2015? Those questions grew louder when Starc started the campaign with figures of 0/47 and 0/53 in his first two matches. But on Sunday, by the time Starc completed his spell of three overs, the trophy was in their bag.
From there on Andre Russell, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy gift wrapped it before their batsmen sealed it on a hot and humid night. The delivery Starc sent down in his first over to cut Abhishek Sharma to size alone deserved every bit worth of his salary cheque. It viciously curved away from the middle stump at pace to knock out the off peg, leaving Abhishek hapless and SRH batsmen in the dugout in dismay at what was to come.
And just like 2012 and 2014, standing at the forefront of their title-winning campaign was the familiar face of Gambhir. Back then, as a captain, he combined with head coach Trevor Bayliss to put together a unit that had been underperforming since 2008. Since his exit in 2018, Kolkata had drifted away, making it to the play-offs only twice in the last five years.
ICYMI!
That special run to glory 💫💜
Recap the #Final on @StarSportsIndia and @JioCinema 💻📱#TATAIPL | #KKRvSRH | #TheFinalCall pic.twitter.com/qUDfUFHpka
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 26, 2024
Brought back into the fold ahead for this season as a mentor, Gambhir has combined with captain Shreyas to take Kolkata back to the highs. Despite winning two titles as a captain, this win should taste a lot sweeter, for there hasn’t been a more consistent team than Kolkata ever in the IPL. They have laid hands on the trophy, having just lost three matches the whole season, just like Shane Warne’s Rajasthan Royals did so in the inaugural edition.
This isn’t a case of Gambhir coming with a magical wand and turning dust into gold. The core of the team has remained the same as last season. But with some shrewd planning, Gambhir and the rest of the support staff managed to fix the glaring holes that buried them last season. After spending that much on Starc, they had to budget their other buys. And they did so, buying the likes of lesser-known players like Ramandeep Singh, Angrish Raghuvanshi at base price and using their tactical acumen to cover the other holes. Narine, would go back to opening, just like what he did when Gambhir was captain and would end up scoring 482 runs – his highest ever in the IPL and also pick up 17 wickets.
𝙎𝙪𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙀𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 🥳
The Final Knight fuelled with intensity, dominance and belief 💜
Congratulations to Kolkata Knight Riders for winning their 3️⃣rd IPL Trophy 🏆
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/lCK6AJCdH9#TATAIPL | #KKRvSRH | #Final | #TheFinalCall pic.twitter.com/K8OATrsqq4
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 26, 2024
And with Narine back to his best, so did Russell, an all-rounder who had been underwhelming with his performance that Kolkata were even thinking of trading him to another team. Those huge sixes that sent bowlers into hiding were back and in the final, ended up with three wickets, including that of the South African batting star Aiden Markram. No wonder Gambhir embraced him with a warm hug at the end of it all.
Like in 2012 and 2014, a Kolkata triumph would remain incomplete without the desi flavour. Apart from Shreyas, Rinku Singh, Venkatesh Iyer and Varun Chakravarthy who all have played at the highest level, Kolkata find the ideal support cast in Vaibhav Arora and Harshit Rana – two pacers who India would be worthy of investing in – who complemented Starc. If Starc knocked out Abhishek, it was Arora who took down Travis Head with a pearler to prick the SRH balloon.
Right through the tournament, KKR haven’t depended on one man. That all of them left an imprint in the final proved to be the icing on the cake.
