The tournament’s description highlighted the excitement this season has generated, with fans eagerly anticipating which team will claim the championship title. This year’s IPL began with ten teams from across India, divided into two groups. Each team played 14 matches — seven at home and seven away. The top four teams from the group stage advanced to the crucial Qualifier and Eliminator rounds. Demonstrating perseverance and teamwork, the top two teams are set to compete in the IPL17 finals.
The final showdown between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) will take place at Chennai’s Chepauk Stadium. KKR finished the league stage as the top team with nine wins, three losses, and two no-results, amassing 20 points. They secured their spot in the final by defeating SRH in the first qualifier. SRH, however, made it to the final by beating the Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 36 runs in the second qualifier.
Both KKR and SRH have exhibited remarkable batting strength this season. They each recorded six totals exceeding 200 runs, the highest by any team. SRH even surpassed the 250-run mark three times, including setting the highest IPL total of 287/3 against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), while KKR achieved this feat twice. This season’s performances could redefine T20 cricket, with both teams at the forefront of this potential shift.
Here are the squads for the final match:
Kolkata Knight Riders Squad:
Rahmanullah Gurbaz (w), Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer (c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Anukul Roy, Manish Pandey, Nitish Rana, Srikar Bharat, Sherfane Rutherford, Dushmantha Chameera, Chetan Sakariya, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Sakib Hussain, Suyash Sharma, Allah Ghazanfar.
Sunrisers Hyderabad Squad:
Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Nitish Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Abdul Samad, Pat Cummins (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Jaydev Unadkat, Shahbaz Ahmed, Umran Malik, Sanvir Singh, Glenn Phillips, Mayank Markande, Mayank Agarwal, Washington Sundar, Anmolpreet Singh, Upendra Yadav, Jhatavedh Subramanyan, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Marco Jansen, Akash Maharaj Singh.
SRK Shares Saddest Moment:
Ahead of the highly anticipated match at Chennai’s Ma Chidambaram Stadium, Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan reflected on his ‘saddest’ moment as the owner of the Kolkata Knight Riders. Despite several seasons where the team ended up at the bottom of the T20 league standings, what hurt Khan the most was the criticism of the team’s costume in its early days.
In an interview with Star Sports, the official broadcaster of IPL 2024, Shah Rukh Khan expressed his pride in his team, calling them the ‘nicest in the world,’ while also sharing some of the challenging moments he faced as an owner. “We had the nicest team in the world, yet we kept losing repeatedly,” Khan remarked.
EXCLUSIVE CHAT with SRK: Shah Rukh Khan recounts the Kolkata Knight Riders’ rise in the IPL, with Gautam Gambhir leading them to two titles! 💜
In this interview with Star Sports, Shahrukh Khan talks about having the nicest set of teams in the world and their comeback story!… pic.twitter.com/yCK55Kzve5
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) May 25, 2024
“The saddest moment I remember was when someone said, ‘Their costume is the only good thing about them; their gameplay isn’t.’ Hearing such comments from experts was painful. But coming back strong with Gautam Gambhir and achieving success was incredible. It taught us how to lose gracefully, never be losers, and never lose hope. Sports teaches you that,” he added.
