AHMEDABAD: Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) brilliant display against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Qualifier 1 of IPL 2024 at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium on Tuesday left every fan of the “team in purple” extremely happy. Like others, co-owner and Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan could not resist jumping for joy as he witnessed his team entering the finals live from the stands.
King Khan was accompanied by his daughter Suhana Khan, younger son AbRam, manager Pooja Dadlani. Juhi Chawla and Jay Mehta, KKR’s co-owners, and Suhana’s close friends Ananya Panday, Shanaya Kapoor, Navya Nanda and Agastya Nanda were also present in the stadium last evening, cheering for KKR.
After the match, SRK, Suhana and AbRam greeted the spectators with a lap around the Narendra Modi Stadium. The ‘Jawan’ star not only greeted the audience with his folded hands but also enthralled them with his signature pose.
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Also, while greeting the fans, SRK inadvertently interrupted JioCinema’s IPL 2024 Hindi broadcast show, which was being shot live on the ground.
SRK then quickly apologised to former India cricketers Suresh Raina, Aakash Chopra and Parthiv Patel who were busy conducting the post match show. After accidentally bumping into them, SRK gave all of them a tight hug.
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“Oh, what a man! Legend. 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,” Aakash Chopra said right after exchanging warm greetings with SRK.
Recapping the match, Sunrisers Hyderabad elected to bat first. After being reduced to 39/4 following an incredible powerplay spell by Mitchell Starc, a 62-run stand between Rahul Tripathi (55 in 35 balls, with seven fours and a six) and Heinrich Klaasen (32 in 21 balls, with three fours and a six) helped SRH cross the 100-run mark. But wickets kept falling for Sunrisers as bowlers were able to maintain pressure on KKR. A late cameo from skipper Mitchell Starc (30 in 24 balls, with two fours and two sixes) took SRH to a respectable 159 in 19.3 overs.
Starc was the pick of the bowlers for KKR, with a spell of 3/34 in four overs, once again making an impact on the big stage. Varun Chakravarthy also picked up 2/26 in four overs. Vaibhav Arora, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell and Vaibhav Arora got a wicket each.
In the run-chase of 160 runs, a 44-run partnership between openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (23 in 14 balls, with two fours and two sixes) and Sunil Narine (21 in 16 balls, with four boundaries) provided a fine platform to KKR. Attacking half-centuries from skipper Shreyas Iyer (58* in 24 balls, with five fours and four sixes) and Venkatesh Iyer (51* in 28 balls, with five fours and four sixes) made a mockery of SRH’s bowling and run-chase, winning the game by eight wickets with 38 balls to go.
With this win, KKR has earned a direct spot in the final, while SRH has one more shot at the title clash and will play in Qualifier two against the winner of the eliminator match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) taking place on Wednesday.
Starc took home the ‘Player of the Match’ award. KKR will now compete in their fourth IPL final in Chennai on Sunday. Now it is to be seen which team among Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) would lock horns against KKR in the final match. (ANI)