KKR vs SRH Highlights, IPL 2024 Final: KKR clinch third IPL title with eight-wicket win vs SRH; Venkatesh Iyer with a fifty, three wickets for Russell

Rahmanullah Gurbaz: My mom is watching from the home. She is feeling good now. I asked mom before the match if she wanted anything. She said just the win. When Salt was playing, I wasn't expecting to get a chance but I knew it's a long tournament and I needed to be ready. Once I got the chance, I was well prepared.

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Bharat Arun: I think it was pretty tough, the last two years. It was touch and go - we didn't qualify. It needed a lot of introspection and now we can savour this moment. [On Harshit Rana] He has been outstanding. It's about backing your strengths. [On Starc] I think Mitch coming into the team boosted the confidence of other youngsters in the side. He is probably the best bowler in the world. Once he understood the Indian conditions, he was excellent. Spinners mature with age, and with Sunny and Varun bowling in tandem, it was superb. [On Narine the batter] He brought a totally different dimension to our batting. It was Gautam who insisted that he opened and it paid dividends. It's a great night and now it's time to celebrate.

Varun Chakravarthy: All I can think right now is of the person who built this Indian core: Abhishek Nayar. "Please come here," he asks Abhishek to join.

Venkatesh Iyer: Really happy with it. As Varun mentioned, Abhishek Nayar deserves all the credit in the world. Some contributions go unnoticed, I want to make sure they don't. This guy deserves all the credit in the world for the way he has been working for this franchise. This win is for the fans who turned up year after year and waited for ten years.

Abhishek Nayar: It means everything. I started playing IPL in the first season and it has taken me 16 years for the first title after two finals. I am really happy for the boys. I cannot express how happy I am. The big man [Russell] turning up as usual. It is the most surreal feeling I have had in a long time.

Andre Russell: No words to describe [holds his tears]. It means so much. I am happy that all of us were very disciplined and worked towards one goal. This franchise has done a lot for me. It's a big gift from all of us to them.

"Sapna poora ho chuka hai (The dream is now fulfilled)." Rinku Singh couldn't hide his emotions in the post-match chat with the broadcasters. "I've been with this team for seven years and now we've finally won it." Absolute scenes watching KKR's young bunch celebrate this win. Quite a lot of applause from the players for those working behind the scenes for the franchise. 

KKR win their third title, and are now just two short of the top-two sides in the league's history - Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings (5 each). 

Shahbaz Ahmed to bowl what is potentially the last over of the season. The players, the owners, they are all ready to celebrate as Shreyas Iyer ties the scores. Venkatesh Iyer with a chance to wrap this up and he does. KKR win by eight wickets. KKR clinch a third title. The players in purple rush into the middle to join their two teammates. As dominating a win as you'll see in any final. What a performance this has been from the KKR. They've won the season with just the three losses to their name.

Kevin Pietersen in the comm box is rooting for captain Shreyas Iyer to finish things off here for KKR. Meanwhile, the other Iyer gets his fifty. A second in the playoffs this season. What a fine knock this has been. 111/2 after 10 overs. We'll have to wait for another over to see the celebrations. Three runs to win the game.

KKR vs SRH Final Live Updates: 'This has to be the most one-sided final ever,' says Ravi Shastri on the comms. Who's to differ?

Meanwhile, Gurbaz dances down the track to Shahbaz Ahmed to clear the long off fence for SIX! 100 up for KKR. It's followed with a delivery that runs down the leg stump for four. But the on-field umpire has raised his finger for an LBW appeal. KKR will, of course, go upstairs. And he's given out, courtesy umpire's call. The Afghan walks back frustrated. He wanted to see this all the way through. He almost did. Captain Shreyas Iyer though, closes the over with a four off his first ball. KKR eight runs away from the trophy. Someone start engraving those initials.

Jaydev Unadkat taking the pace off and so there's a temporary pause in the boundaries. Venkatesh Iyer, who has raced his way to 44 in the final, signals for drinks as he takes the non-striker's end. Meanwhile, Gurbaz ends the over finding the gap down the mid wicket. KKR get to 93 after eight overs. Gurbaz into the 30s. 

Shahbaz Ahmed, who was the protagonist of SRH's successful defence in Qualifier 2, with the ball in his hand for the first time in the final. Gurbaz is beaten on the inside edge as it runs down fine leg for four byes. The Afghan opener then goes down on knee to execute a sweep shot for SIX over short fine. 12 runs from the over. 84/1 after seven overs.

"No pressure," mutters Matthew Hayden on the comms. This, for Venkatesh Iyer, who does seem like he's playing a school cricket recess four-overs-a-side match rather than an IPL final. Natarajan bowling his second over, has been taken down. A short ball slashed wide of backward point for four followed by a pull shot down deep mid wicket fence for another boundary. Then, a slower ball flicked over deep square leg for SIX! And at last, a wild gung-ho down the leg side but it catches the toe end of the bat and runs down short third for four. 20 runs from the over. 72 from the powerplay.

Fifty up for the KKR in the fifth over. Gurbaz brings it up with a four off a short ball from Cummins. Didn't get the bat on it after making room down the leg stump but gloved it and fine leg was very square to intercept it in time. Six runs from the fifth over. KKR are 52/1.

Natarajan replaces Cummins. Finds the outside edge off Gurbaz's willow but it runs between the slip and the keeper down third man for FOUR.

He punches one wide of cover, Nitish Kumar Reddy makes a full stretch dive to stop a boundary and then follows it up with a fine throw that wasn't too far away from the stumps. A direct hit and the batter would've been gone. Even Gurbaz applauds the effort. KKR are in a position where they can applaud these efforts from SRH. 46/1 after four overs.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar continues from the other end. Venkatesh Iyer is the new man in. SRH may have gotten an early wicket but have few runs to put the pressure on KKR, who aren't waiting to take this game by the scuff of its neck. The first delivery from Bhuvi is straying too far down leg and Iyer glances it down fine leg for four. Then, follows it by giving consecutive deliveries a charge down the ground for SIX! 16 off the first three deliveries and that's the pressure dealt with. 20 runs from the over. 37/1 after three, KKR.

Sunil Narine welcomes the SRH captain with a first-ball six. It's how he has played his cricket all season. But with it, comes a 50-50 chance for the opposition to pounce, which is what SRH have done on this occasion. Cummins lures Narine into a flick shot off a quicker delivery but the southpaw is unable to get in position for the stroke in time and is holed by Shahbaz Ahmed. A much needed first wicket for SRH. 

Gurbaz however, isn't shying away from his shots. Cummins angles one in on the right-hander, Gurbaz makes room outside the leg stump and lofts one over the infield on the off side for four. Cummins wraps the over with a short over. 17/1 after two overs.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Sunil Narine make way into the middle. Bhuvneshwar Kumar with the new ball. Surely they will take the SRH bowling attack head on. Gurbaz gets off the mark with a four. Cashes in on the width and finds the gap down backward point for four. 5/0 after the first over.

Andre Russell (3/19): Very happy, very happy, especially getting three wickets in this game. We all know how important this game is. As big players, we all stood up tonight. Very happy with how I am bowling and very happy with how everyone's bowling. Just being disciplined, bowling to the plans and trying to bowl less bad balls. My fitness is a big part of that but mentally I am in a better space. I was mentally down for the last few years, going through a lot. At the end of the day, we stand firm, back ourselves and back the talent we have. My body is feeling very good, I want to stay this way for another couple of years. We are not going to take it (target) lightly. These guys (SRH) are going to come out and try to defend this total. We have to make sure that we get a good powerplay. If we get 40-50 without loss or even one wicket down, we are on our way. The bowlers set it up very well. We as batters have to get the job done.

We are back for the chase and Gurbaz and Narine are out in the middle. Looks like an easy chase but if SRH can rattle the KKR batters early, this final might not look so predictable. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has the new ball in hand. 

Very happy, very happy, especially getting three wickets in this game. We all know how important this game is. As big players, we all stood up tonight. Very happy with how I am bowling and very happy with how everyone's bowling. Just being disciplined, bowling to the plans and trying to bowl less bad balls. My fitness is a big part of that but mentally I am in a better space. I was mentally down for the last few years, going through a lot. At the end of the day, we stand firm, back ourselves and back the talent we have. My body is feeling very good, I want to stay this way for another couple of years. We are not going to take it (target) lightly. These guys (SRH) are going to come out and try to defend this total. We have to make sure that we get a good powerplay. If we get 40-50 without loss or even one wicket down, we are on our way. The bowlers set it up very well. We as batters have to get the job done.

Sriram Veera: And to think that it was the controversy over his bowling action which was reported that has made Sunil Narine an even harder proposition to hit these days. When the issues broke out and he had to remodel his action, Narine went for one big change. He began to hold the ball behind him, delaying its darshan to the batsmen as long as possible. He had been practising it for six years prior to that but hadn’t used it in game situation but forced by the problems over his action, he pulled out his trump card from training. “That helped my economy rate go even lower - batsmen see the ball as late as possible and have to react, rather than see what is going to happen. They have to wait and try to hit the ball. That split-second delay works in my favour, that second I have over them is helping me,” he once told Cricket Monthly. The SRH batsmen too had no clue, and kept waiting that fraction longer and could only push him around for singles. When Pat Cummins tried to take him on, he skied a catch to long-on where it was grassed by Mitch Starc.

Andre Russell into the attack, and he wraps up the innings. Pat Cummins the final one to fall. Full and pace on and Cummins isn't able to get underneath it and is holed at long on by Mitchell Starc, who makes up for that dropped catch from a couple of overs ago. So SRH, the team that gave us some of the gigantic totals of the season, are all out for 113 in the summit clash. KKR will think they have one hand on the trophy, and they won't be wrong to think so, would they?

Sunil Narine to bowl his last over. Cummins has another go at a boundary, but Narine - cunning as he has been all season - keeps the pace off to a minimum as the SRH skipper flicks one down backward square leg boundary. 

Later in the over, there's an appeal against Jaydev Unadkat but the umpire isn't interested. The original appeal was of a bowled dismissal but the bails hadn't fell. Off the DRS check, Narine gets the wicket off an LBW check. His first wicket, and it was only fitting that he got one on this night. SRH are nine down for 113 after 18 overs.

Harshit Rana to close his spell earlier then usual. KKR don't want to mess about, just as they haven't for the entirety of this innings. Cummins carves one down the cover region for a couple. 100 comes up for the Sunrisers.

The captian isn't giving up, not yet. Goes for glory over the same region, Andre Russell grabs hold of it but crosses the fence while making a run by the fence. He had thrown the ball back, just not in time as the momentum took him over the rope. Crucial runs these for SRH. 108/8 after 17 overs.

Tushar Bhaduri: When a big game is talked up too much, very often it turns out to be a damp squib. An IPL final is inevitably a hyped event, but it seemed that only one team had come out to play. KKR had been the most consistent team throughout the tournament, but the best side can come unstuck in a one-off match. Sunrisers had shown they are a dangerous side, but Sunday was a day when the cream did rise to the top. And their success owed as much to the talent and big-game temperament of the group as to the preparation and homework done  by KKR's think tank. They read the pitch well and knew what sort of bowling would be most effective on the surface. Of course, it helps if the team has all bases covered in their bowling attack, and the opposition doesn't have a clue how to go about an innings if they lose a few wickets upfront. The destiny of the big final seemed decided much before the halfway mark.

Sunil Narine back into the attack. Another boundary for KKR. Cummins misses out on reverse sweep and it runs down the fine leg fence after Gurbaz misses to collect it behind the stumps. KKR almost close the innings. Cummins skies a slower one from Narine but Starc is unable to catch hold of the ball at long on. Next up, Jaydev Unadkat's reverse sweep falls agonisingly short of the fielder at short fine. 98/8 after 16 overs.

Sriram Veera: It wasn’t even a disguised slower one from Harshit Rana. Change of face, change of pace - both telegraphed pretty early in the piece and surely, Heinrich Klassen picked it up. It was wide too. He waited and then went for an almighty swing but could only drag it back onto his stumps. It fit the low-quality nature of the final. Once the ball moved a touch at the start, the batsmen were exposed. Later on, they found unique ways to throw their wickets. A short medium pace ball from Andre Russell found its way to the hands of Starc at long-on as Aiden Markram pulled it expertly to him. Shahbaz Ahmed top-edged an awkward sweep to short fine. Rahul Tripathi perhaps thought it was an inswinger from Starc and went for the across-the-line swat-heave, but it was the away angler and unsurprisingly caught the top edge. Abdul Samad found a way to play a straight ball outside off, well away from his body, and contrived to edge it behind. At one stage, Gautam Gambhir, who had been sitting there emotion-less, was moved enough to clap for a wicket.

Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora stepped up with the ball for KKR in the final. It's what they had done all through the season, alongside Ramandeep Singh, the three uncapped players who have done the heavy lifting for Shreyas Iyer and Co. (READ more about them here in this comprehensive feature from Pratyush Raj)

Harshit Rana back into the attack. First ball, slower, outside the off stump, and Klaasen drags it onto his stumps. The misery compounds for SRH. Are they even getting a triple figure score from here? A second wicket for Rana, eighth for KKR.

A wicket maiden from the 22-year-old. SRH are 90/8 after 15.

Varun Chakravarthy into his second over. Pat Cummins welcomes him with a cheeky reverse lap down short third for four. It was meant to be a paddle shot but Cummins switched it at the last second to pickpocket the gap. Another fine over from KKR, just the eight runs off it. 90/8 after 14 overs.

Andre Russell into his second over, removes SRH's impact player. A fullish delivery that didn't move at all but Samad played it so far away from his body that he couldn't middle it and edges it to Rahmanullah Gurbaz. Russell does a little jig as KKR celebrate a seventh wicket. 

Pat Cummins has a wry smile on his face as he pads up to do the hard task with the bat. Starts off with a boundary off a late cut shot. 82/7 after 13 overs.

Sandip G: On a night of spectacular deliveries, Harshit Rana produced a piece of pure subtlety to devour Nitish Kumar Reddy. The devious setting up was there—three slower balls followed by one at full pelt, which meant he lingered on the back-foot—but you expect batsmen at this level to see through such layers of deception. But the real beauty was the ball itself. The ball swung in a wee bit, even in the seventh over, thanks to those dexterous fingers of Rana, which ensured the uprightness of the seam. That minuscule inward moment tricked Reddy. He shaped to ease the ball off the leg-side, before he saw with startled eyes, the ball moving off the seam after landing. He altered his stroke and tried to force it through the off-side. By then, he had lost his shape, his feet stood static and he could only swish his bat at what he perceived as the line of the ball. Nitish wore the expression of a defeated man.

Varun Chakravarthy introduced into the attack. And he becomes the fifth KKR bowler to strike in his first over. This has been a comprehensive bowling show from the KKR. Shahbaz Ahmed goes for the audacious sweep shot and pays the price for it, holed at short fine. A sixth wicket for the Knight Riders. This is surely a done deal for them. 72/6 after 13 overs.

Andre Russell strikes in his first over. A short of a length delivery, Aiden Markram is unable to time it as sweetly as he would've liked and Mitchell Starc claims the catch at long on. That's half of the SRH batting back in the hut. A pall of gloom casted over the SRH dressing room. Shahbaz Ahmed is the new man in. Another short ball from Russell and this time, it's edged past the keeper for four. Still a fair share of work to be done by Pat Cummins and Co in the remaining 12 overs with only 70 runs on the scoreboard.

Narine into his second over. He's keeping the Proteas duo of Markram-Klaasen on their toes. Making them think whether it's coming into them or keeping away. Three singles negotiated off the first three deliveries followed by three dot balls. After 10 overs, SRH are 62/4.

Rana continues from the other end. Projected score from here is 129. SRH would surely want to change that as we near the halfway mark in this innings. The economy rate has been kept in check. Only six fours and a maximum have been hit so far by the SRH batters, which when you take into account is the same team that scored three 250 plus totals this season, is incredible bowling display from KKR. Just seven runs from the ninth over. 58/4, SRH.

And KKR finally turn to spin. It's the spinners who have yeilded the chunk of wickets for the two-time winners this season. Sunil Narine starts off with a superb over. Just the four runs come off it. Heinrich Klaasen, known for his takedown ability against spinners, won't be taking any chances yet. Fifty up for SRH.

Harshit Rana to bowl his first over of the night. Another standout performer for KKR this season. What can he offer here...starts off with short delivery that offers too much room to Nitish Reddy, who cracks it past point for his second boundary. It's Rana though, who has the last laugh. Off his last ball. Perfect setup this from the bowler; three slower ones followed by an away swinger. Gurbaz with safe pair of hands behind the wicket. A fourth wicket for KKR. SRH are 47/4 after seven overs.

Tushar Bhaduri: For all the big hitting that's been a feature of this IPL, it just takes a bit of  movement at pace to redress the balance of the game. While the delivery Mitchell Starc unleashed to castle Abhishek Sharma would have got any left-hander, even in a Test match, Travis Head succumbed to some late movement and his propensity to stay leg-side of the ball moving away from him, and not exercising his feet much.

Head allowed Abhishek to take first strike against Starc, who had made a mockery of his stumps in Qualifier 1. But if he thought that Vaibhav Arora would be an easier proposition, he was mistaken. The uncapped Indian pacer has just about enough pace to keep batsmen honest in the early overs, hits the perfect length and gets the ball to move, primarily into the right-hander and away from left-handers. The length on the last ball had him rooted to the crease and the late away movement forced him to just fend indecisively at the ball, resulting in an outside edge and the dismissal of Sunrisers' man for the big occasion. Starc is the quintessential big-match player, but when he was not firing in the first half of the tournament, it was Arora who did the heavy lifting in the opening exchanges.

Vaibhav Arora to close the powerplay for KKR. Can he stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Mitch Starc at the end of his third over? Starts off with another wide. Aiden Markram then, notches back-to-back boundaries over cover-point. First one is length ball, slapped in front of square. The second ball, slightly shorter is reached out and dispatched with brute force and almost clears the fence. These are shots that will lift the SRH dressing room. Nitish Kumar Reddy is the new man in and he gets another boundary to make it three for the over. Another short ball, calmly hooked down fine leg for four. KKR though, will still be the happier of the two teams as the field restrictions are lifted. 40/3 after six overs.

Venkata Krishna, from Chennai: In the Qualifier II, the amount on turn on offer at Chepauk came as a surprise. It is something CSK were unable to find the whole season. And similarly in the final, KKR's new ball bowlers are finding plenty of swing. The lack of swing had been a constant complain from CSK, with Deepak Chahar and bowling coach Eric Simons even finding fault with the Kookaburra. But KKR's Starc and Arora and making the ball both ways here. Whether it is down to the low lying clouds or not, they are not complaining. KKR continue to make inroads as Starc picks up another one. No swing here, just leading edge.

Starc given a third on a trot. An attacking move from KKR, they want another one in the powerplay. And it pays off!

Rahul Tripathi goes for a biggie. It's gone miles but is caught inside the 30-yard circle. This was a quicker one - 142KPH - from Starc and he gets a wicket off it. An excellent over that from the Aussie, who has repayed large sums of the whooping 24.5 Cr INR that KKR invested on him in his last two appearances. SRH are 23/3 after five overs.

Arora starts off his second over with consecutive wides. KKR can't offer this freebies if they are to keep hold of the momentum they've created this early in the final. Good recovery from Arora as he concedes just the two off his first four legal deliveries. Tripathi rushes down to carve him through the cover region but it seams in to beat the right-hander on its way to Gurbaz. Seems to be his go-to delivery at this point of time. Overdoes it slightly as it strays down the leg side for a third wide in the over. Largely though, it's a fine over with no more boundaries for the SRH batters to follow up on that last over. 21/2 after four overs.

Starc continues from the other end. Oh what a start this has been for KKR. Rahul Tripathi and Aiden Markram take the stage from Abhishek and Head, and it's the former who gets the first boundary of the night for SRH. A flick off a delivery too far down the leg, races down the long leg boundary for FOUR!

Aiden Markram gets his first four of the night, slightly more lucky as he edges one off an attempted drive through the off side and it runs past the lone slip down the third man fence for four. 15/2 after three overs.

AN ABSOLUTE RIPPER! ?

As spectacular as it gets from Mitchell Starc ??

He gets the in-form Abhishek Sharma early ?

Watch the match LIVE on @JioCinema and @StarSportsIndia ??#TATAIPL | #KKRvSRH | #Final | #TheFinalCall pic.twitter.com/K5w9WIywuR

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 26, 2024

Vaibhav Arora scampers in from the other end. KKR have got their first act done in time. The Travishek partnership has been broken. Can they get rid of the other SRH opener as well? No boundaries off the first five deliveries in the second over. Head is likely to feel the pump of the occasion. It might have led to his decision of poking an outgoing delivery from Vaibhav. Nicks it fine and Gurbaz takes the catch behind the stumps. There you go. Both SRH openers are back in the hut. KKR in firm control of the final. 6/2 after two overs.

Sriram Veera: There was a funny banter between Mitch Starc and Travis Head, at non-striker’s end, after the first ball in the IPL final. The first ball swung past the outside edge of Abhishek Sharma, and as Starc walked back, he directed a gesture at Head with his thumb back at striker’s end. As if to say you get there. Head said something that brought up a big laugh from Starc. In the stands, a huge banner waved: ‘Travis Head, drop them dead!’ Three balls later, it was Starc dropping one dead with an absolute beaut. It landed on a length around middle and off and curved away past the iffy prod from Abhishek Sharma to clatter into the off peg. Starc roared, Abishek winced, and the final was alive and kicking.

Venkata Krishna, from Chennai: Just before the toss as Mitchell Starc was marking his run-up, Abhisek Sharma stood at the opposite end and was shadow batting a lofted shot. He even appeared to be visualising what he would be facing later on. But never in his wildest dreams he would expected to face a peach of a delivery from Starc, it angled in at good pace and just shaped away, taking the off stump with it. Starc has struck again in the first over of a big match.

First ball from Starc, Abhishek on strike, moves away from the southpaw. Early signs of what was predicted by the pundits during Qualifier 2, even this surface will see the ball holding a little on its way to the batter. Abhishek's slash through the covers isn't timed to perfection. Meanwhile, a run out opportunity arises for the KKR. Ramandeep Singh's throw at the batter's end is accurate but Rahmanullah Gurbaz fails to grab a hold of it in time and take the bails off. 

But the celebrations aren't far away for KKR. Starc cleans up Abhishek off the very next delivery. A peach of a delivery from a left-armer to a southpaw. Angled in, nips away after pitching and clips the off stump. Another first over wicket for Starc. 3/1 after the first over.

All in readiness in Chennai for the pinnacle contest of franchise cricket. And how fitting it is that the two teams who finished at the top of the points table in the league stage are to feature in it. Both KKR and SRH have redefined the boundaries of aggression in the format over the past couple of months. Here's a chance for the two to cap it off with a trophy, the trophy in T20 franchise cricket. The two sets of players walk into the middle with pyroworks and a round of applause from the Chepauk crowd. The golden prize is placed in front as they take their place for - as is the custom ahead of every IPL final - the Indian national anthem. 

The KKR players have their team huddle, Mitchell Starc takes his place near his run up marker. He'll be looking to make the same sort of impact with the new ball as he did in Ahmedabad during Qualifier 1. In walk Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma. They'll hope to provide the kind of start they've best come known for this season. Shreyas Iyer having a chat with his most prized bowler (quite literally) to set a field of his choosing. Off we go!

Travis Head: It's another final. It's nice to be here, it's been a very enjoyable couple of months, so hopefully we can top it off tonight and please a lot of fans. (On losing 4 & 3 wickets in the powerplay in the last two matches) We'd obviously like to lose a little bit less. We got to 170 both times without hitting the marks that we wanted to hit. That's exciting as a group and we spoke about that - we want to go out and continue to play aggressive, play positively and do what we've done the whole time. The positive is that we've been able to get to totals that's given us half a chance with a powerplay like that. So hopefully tonight we can get off to a really good start and get to a really big score. (Any advantage having played Qualifier 2 at this venue?) We'll say yes and they'll say no. We have to come prepared and we are ready to go. We had a look at it the other day, it'll be completely different. It's about making sure that we sum those conditions up as quickly as we can and communicate that well. If it's with the bat, get off to the best start we can with me and Abhi (Abhishek Sharma). If it's the ball, then Bhuvi will kickstart that for us. (Battle against Starc) We have had our battles over the years and he's won a fair few of them, hopefully knock the shine off him tonight and then we get off to a good start.

Rinku Singh: Team atmosphere is superb. Whenever we enter the dressing room, Ramandeep Singh plays Punjabi songs and it changes the environment. GG (Gautam Gambhir) sir and Chandru (Chandrakant Pandit) sir have given us a lot of freedom. The thought process remains the same (for the final), playing according to the match situation. It'll be a dream come true to win a senior trophy. I'll try to give my best. Hopefully we win the match. We have played a match here as well, so we know how the wicket plays. I never look too far ahead, I always stay in the present.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Umran Malik, Glenn Phillips, Mayank Markande, Abdul Samad, Washington Sundar

Kolkata Knight Riders: Anukul Roy, Manish Pandey, Nitish Rana, KS Bharat, Sherfaine Rutherford

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

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

Pat Cummins, SRH: Looks like a good wicket, never good at reading wickets. But this looks fine. There was no dew the other night, doesn't seem there will be today, but who knows. We are playing a particular style, won't work every time but when it does, it will be damaging. Good to be back here. It is a different soil, but you are asking the wrong bloke. Shahbaz comes in for Samad.

Shreyas Iyer, KKR: We would have bowled first. This is a completely different soil [than the Eliminator]. We wanted to back that. We need to stick to the [strengths, and need to execute our plans. We have been backing each other. Whenever we have been put under pressure, we have worked out well. There has been jitteriness right from the start [of the day]. This is a big game. Lots of individuals who are playing their first final. There is nervousness. Hopefully we can win this one. We are going with the same team.

Pat Cummins wins the toss, SRH opt to bat first in Chennai.

Every now and then, the world needs to be reminded, Cummins is really good at this hip thing called fast bowling. Cummins the skipper must be held accountable. It’s not like he isn’t considered among the greatest bowlers of this generation anymore, but it is during the coronation of a fine cricketing leader that the pacer has been flagrantly overlooked. 

However, the world must not forget, Cummins is a bowler who hasn’t shied away from reinventing himself to better extract from the conditions and the format. There have been plenty of speculations around his place in Australia’s XI now that he’s been removed as the captain. However, it would be remiss to ignore that before he wore the armband, Cummins was the piece that completed Australia’s pace trinity. In the day and age of variations, as Josh Hazlewood remains simple and consistent in his 6-8m good length strip and Mitchell Starc struggles to nail his slower ones, it’s Cummins who can mix things up as well as he did the other night. (READ MORE on what makes Pat Cummins the bowler so special)

Sunil Narine might not be the man you think he is. The demure, self-effacing cricketer, indifferent to celebrations after nabbing wickets, has three sports cars in his garage, including a Range Rovers that could hit a maximum speed of 234 kph in the blink of an eye, beside four other luxury cards. His face gazes from India’s first live casino and North America’s most trusted optometric firm. He is the unofficial hair-dresser of his Kolkata Knight Riders teammate Andre Russell, the latter says in a podcast on the franchise website. On the dance-floor, he could match the grooves of Russell and Chris Gayle. (READ Sandip G's profile on KKR's main man with the bat this year)