Kolkata Knight Riders captain Shreyas Iyer was delighted after leading his team to IPL glory. KKR defeated SRH by eight wickets at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Sunday to clinch their third IPL title.
KKR was the most consistent team throughout the season as they won nine out of their 14 league stage matches, with three losses and two no results. They finished the league phase at the top of the standings with 20 points and also defeated SRH comprehensively in the first qualifier.
Meanwhile, KKR bowlers were right on the money in the all-important final. They were able to bundle out the Orange Army for only 113 runs after Pat Cummins decided to bat first. SRH was rocked on the backfoot in the very first over as Mitchell Starc bowled a jaffa to get rid of Abhishek Sharma.
Vaibhav Arora then produced Travis Head’s outside edge, which was taken by Rahmanullah Gurbaz. KKR bowlers kept taking wickets at regular intervals to put the opposition under pressure as they were relentless. Starc and Harshit Rana bagged two wickets each whereas Andre Russell returned with impressive figures of 3-19.
The target of 114 was easily achieved as KKR chased it down in 10.3 overs with Venkatesh Iyer scoring an unbeaten knock of 52 runs off 26 balls.
Shreyas Iyer said in the post-match presentation, “Absolutely comprehensive. This is what we demanded from the team and every individual. They stood up to the right occasion and the feeling is hard to express. It (wait) was so long, longer than the match. We played like invincibles throughout the season. There’s so much to cherish right now. It is pleasing, the performance has been flawless throughout. I am running out of words right now. We have been tremendous from game one, we stepped up today. All we demanded from ourselves was to back each other whatever the situation is. The game could have either way. They have been playing phenomenal cricket – SRH – throughout the season. We were lucky to bowl first and every situation went in our favour. Thanks to SRH the way they played. Looking forward to play more competitive cricket.”
Iyer lauded Mitchell Starc for bringing his A-game in the playoffs. Starc returned with impressive figures of 2-14 as he accounted for Abhishek Sharma and Rahul Tripathi in the final.
Iyer said for Starc, “That’s when all the big players stand up, right! It was a high-pressure game and he’s been so good off the field. He’s never shown any complacency in his work ethics. He stepped up to the right occasion.”
KKR ticked all the right boxes throughout the season and deserved to be champions.
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