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Shreyas Iyer led the Kolkata Knight Riders to an emphatic eight-wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad to qualify for the final of IPL 2024. With this victory, KKR continued the trend of winning Qualifier 1 and now are one step away from winning their third title in history. On the other hand, the Sunrisers will have a lot to ponder as they will now take on the winner of the Eliminator between Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
After winning the toss, Sunrisers Hyderabad instantly regretted the decision of batting first as their in-form Travis Head was clean bowled on zero after just two balls. This wicket triggered a massive collapse for SRH as they were reduced to 39-4 in the first five overs. Rahul Tripathi and Henrich Klassen managed to rebuild the innings but the KKR spinners turned up to pick a few quick wickets.
The constant pressure with the ball helped Kolkata bundle out SRH for 159 with Mitchell Starc emerging as the difference maker with his 3-34 in four overs. Chasing this total, KKR had a blistering and never looked back all four batters scored a brisk rate to chase down the total in 13.4 overs. Sunil Narine and Rahmanullah Gurbaz posted a 44 in 3.2 overs before Shreyas Iyer and Venkatesh Iyer stitch up a 120-run stand to seal the game in well under 15 overs.
Speaking about the loss, SRH captain Pat Cummins said, "Yeah, we will try to put this behind quickly, good thing we will have a crack at it (second qualifier). You have those days in T20 cricket where things doesn't quite work out. We weren't where we wanted with the bat and obviously couldn't do much with the ball."
"Felt that extra batting was important (picking the impact sub) on this wicket. Thought KKR bowled really well, there was a little bit in it early on and the surface got better. We all have played enough cricket, and going to a new venue (Chennai) helps us as well, so we gotta keep this behind and move on.
