IPL 2024 final: On Sunday, KKR and SRH will lock horns on a red-soil pitch – which offers good bounce and pace. (Sportzpics)
On a humid Saturday afternoon, Shreyas Iyer and Pat Cummins, headed to Chennai’s Marina beach for the official photo-shoot before the IPL final. With the vast Bay of Bengal in the background, they settled on top of a catamaran. It’s perhaps the only time since the IPL hooter went off at MA Chidambaram Stadium on March 23, they appeared out of place. After two months as the IPL comes back to where it began, there is no doubt that the two best teams of the tournament, Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad, have made it to the final.
In contrasting ways, under a new captain and support staff, Kolkata and Hyderabad have put all the conventional stereotypes to the bin and have embraced a style in which T20s are ought to be played. Humongous totals became the norm. Out of six 200-plus totals that Hyderabad made, three of them were in excess of 250. Like Hyderabad, Kolkata too have six 200-plus totals. Invariably before the pitches started getting slower, the matches involving them turned into a six-hitting contest. No team has hit as many sixes as Hyderabad’s 175. And Kolkata are fourth in the list with 135.
But on and off the field, they are polar opposite. Shreyas’ Kolkata, with Gautam Gambhir as their mentor, are meticulous. There is an orderly feel to everything they do. In a season, where IPL teams have relied less on all-rounders and instead relied on specialists, Kolkata are still banking on Sunil Narine and Andre Russell. Like Chennai Super Kings in 2011 or Mumbai Indians in 2020, Kolkata are showing no real weakness in their ranks. Two aggressive openers who set the tone followed by a middle-order that is as destructive, two mystery spinners, and a fiery pacer to go with promising young prospects, they are as rounded as a team can get.
They have been predictable in terms of what to expect but therein lies their strength. They have suffered only three losses in the entire league stage, the first team to do so after Rajasthan Royals (2008) and Punjab Kings (2014) in an era where the gap between the teams have narrowed. For every question that the opposition throws up, they have had answers to it, thanks to the meticulous planning. In a format where consistency is hard to find, it has been the hallmark of this side. Unless the conditions force, they have seldom tinkered the XI.
Hyderabad, on the other hand, has embraced chaos to get here. At the end of the auctions, they appeared a strong team on paper, but doubts still persisted as to whether all of it would show on the field. Having finished bottom of the table in two of the last three seasons, this has been a year of revival as wished by the actor Rajnikanth. During his Jailer movie launch, with Hyderabad owner Kavya Maran in the audience, the actor made a pitch to her father Kalanithi Maran. “My only request for Kala Sir (Kalanidhi Maran) is to get good players for Sunrisers. Every time I see Kavya’s expressions during the Sunrisers match, my blood pressure shoots up,” Rajnikanth said. And after acquiring Pat Cummins and Travis Head at the auctions, they have appeared a totally different side.
They have been unpredictable, even dropping players they ought to have struck with. But somehow, they have managed to put all of it aside and stand a worthy opponent to challenge Kolkata for the title.
Their roads to finals have been contrasting, but there are common elements too. Both are prepared to win games with the bat, fully prepared for their bowlers to play second fiddle. The Orange Caps and Purple Caps are considered out-dated concepts with strike-rate and dot-balls taking precedence. These are two evenly matched sides, playing with the liberty and freedom that would make for a neutral to enjoy their attempts to break the glass ceiling. On the eve of the match, neither Shreyas nor Cummins found a reason to change their styles that has gotten them this far.
On Sunday, they will lock horns on a red-soil pitch – which offers good bounce and pace. With rain around, dew is unlikely to make an impact. If the pitch offers turn like it did in Qualifier II, both teams have spinners to fall back as well, with Kolkata having a slight edge on that front.
But as Shreyas said, all of it would come down to the mindset. Before the IPL began, Cummins didn’t know what to expect at the IPL. But he has shown by now that lack of experience in leading a team in a fast-paced format isn’t that important. He used last year’s ODI World Cup to crack the code in Indian conditions. One can even stretch the final of that 50-over event to describe Cummins’ attitude. India were the most dominant side then, he deflated them in the grand final. Kolkata have had a similar dominating run in this IPL, if any team can stop them it would be Cummins’s SRH. Like Australia, Hyderabad have been the mentality monsters, always stepping up when the need arises. After Ahmedabad in that world cup final, Cummins gets another opportunity to humble an Indian captain.
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