Chennai, May 26 (UNI) After a dominating show by the seamers, who bagged eight wickets, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) batters, led by left hander Venkatesh Iyer’s blistering half century, humbled Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) to win its third IPL title in an one-sided IPL final at the M.A.Chidambaram Stadium here on Sunday night.
After skittling out SRH, which chose to bat first, to 113 in 18.3 overs, KKR batters overhauled the target with consummate ease and crowned themselves glory for the third time.
This is first title win in last ten years for KKR, adding to its wins in 2012 and 2014 after losing the title clash in 2021.
Chasing a meagre target, KKR lost in form left hander Sunil Narine (6) in the second over.
However, a rampaging Venkatesh Iyer (52 not out 4×4, 3×6 in 26 balls) pummelled the SRH bowling attack with a flurry of shots as he and opener Rahamullah Gurbaz (39, 32 balls 5×4, 2×6) added 91 for the second wicket in 45 balls as the contest ended long before the scheduled close.
This will go into the history one of the one-sided IPL finals contested so far.
It was a disappointing show by the Hyderabd team as SRH’s decision to bat first on a wicket that aided swing and seam movement backfired as they collapsed like a pack of cards and were bowled out with nine balls to spare, with the KKR seamers blowing the batters away.
Left arm medium pacer Mitchell Starc started the slide with two wickets in his first three overs, before Andre Russel picked up three wickets in the middle overs. Meidumpacers Harshit Rana chipped in with two wickets, while Vaibhav Arora and spinners Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy picked up a wicket each to restrict SRH to a low total.
The target proved too low to defend as Venkatesh and Gurbaz made a mincemeat of it as KKR romped in just 10.3 overs, scoring 114 for two, as the celebrations began in the dug out.
The wicket of Gurbaz in the ninth over, when he was removed by spinner Shahbaz Ahmed hardly had any impact as Venkatesh, in the company of skipper Shreyas Iyer, fittingly hit the winning run.
It was celebrations time in the KKR camp, while gloomy scenes seen in the SRH camp as KKR bowlers, after bowling out SRH for a mere 113, their batters took the team past the finishing line in just 10.3 overs.
It was fitting that the most consistent side won the title in front of a packed crowd at the iconic Chepauk stadium .
