Kolkata Knight Riders put on a spectacular performance at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium on Tuesday, as the side that finished first in the league stage advanced to their fourth final with an eight-wicket victory against Sunrisers Hyderabad. The bowlers set up the surprise victory, knocking SRH for 159 before Venkatesh Iyer and Shreyas Iyer chased it down in 13.4 overs on the strength of an unbroken 97-run partnership.
Opting to bat first in Ahmedabad, where Pat Cummins stunned the Indian crowd a few months ago to win the ODI World Cup, SRH got off to a bad start with Mitchell Starc picking three wickets with the new ball, including Travis Head’s duck on the second ball of the match. Rahul Tripathi revived SRH’s innings with a blazing 35-ball 55 and shared a 62-run stand with Heinrich Klaasen, but KKR responded by inflicting a collapse. Sunrisers lost their next five wickets in 30 balls for 25 runs. Cummins, on the other hand, contributed significantly with the bat, helping to take the total above 150.
In response, KKR lost their two openers in the first seven overs, but fifties from Venkatesh and skipper Shreyas helped the two-time champions chase down 160 with 38 balls remaining.
After the match, KKR co-owner Shah Rukh Khan, his daughter Suhana and son AbRam greeted the fans with a lap around the Narendra Modi Stadium. During their gesture for the fans, they inadvertently interrupted JioCinema’s IPL 2024 Hindi broadcast show, which was being shot live on the ground.
Shah Rukh then quickly apologised to former India cricketers Aakash Chopra, Parthiv Patel and Suresh Raina, who were conducting the show, hugged all of them and then apologised to the fans watching the broadcast before continuing with his lap around the venue.
Suhana was seen carefully bypassing the cameras while holding hands of her brother.
“Oh, what a man! Legend!” smiled Aakash. “He did not even realise that he walked into the show. He was very apologetic, but I said, ‘You made our day. You are the showstopper.”
The former India opener then reflected on his two-year spell with KKR between 2008 and 2009. “I spent a bit of time at KKR with him. I batted at No. 8 and also at No. 6 then. He was very supportive.”
KKR will now await the winner of Qualifier 2 before facing them in the final on May 26 at Chennai’s Chepauk Stadium. Hyderabad, on the other hand, will have another chance to reach the final when they meet the victor of the Eliminator in Qualifier 2 of the T20 event on Friday in Chennai.
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