This Sunday’s IPL 2024 final promises an electrifying clash as the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), captained by Shreyas Iyer and strategically guided by Gautam Gambhir, take on the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) under the leadership of Pat Cummins. While such high-stakes matches often highlight the captains, this final will showcase Gambhir’s tactical brilliance against Cummins’ revolutionary leadership.
Gautam Gambhir, renowned for his astute cricketing mind, will face Pat Cummins, a captain who has exceeded expectations, leading SRH from inconsistency to the verge of triumph. Cummins’ extraordinary rise, including an ODI World Cup, a World Test Championship, and an Ashes series victory within six months, could be capped with an IPL title for SRH.
SRH assistant coach Simon Helmot praises Cummins as “a very practical guy, very humble, very empathetic to his fellow teammates and coaching staff. He is into the statistics and gets the information that he needs against a particular opposition in certain conditions.” Cummins’ no-nonsense approach is evident, with team meetings sometimes lasting just 35 seconds but packed with essential information.
KKR enters the final as favorites, having outsmarted SRH in the first qualifier with their clever bowling strategies. Their lineup features match-winners like Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana, Harshit Rana, and Varun Chakravarthy. Gambhir’s experience and successful history, including IPL titles in 2012 and 2014, make him a formidable adversary.
However, SRH’s journey to the final has been marked by outstanding performances from uncapped domestic talents like Abhishek Sharma and Nitish Reddy, along with seasoned Indian internationals such as Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, and Jaydev Unadkat. Their confidence was bolstered by a commanding 36-run victory over the Rajasthan Royals in the second qualifier, with spinners Abhishek Sharma and Shahbaz Ahmed playing key roles.
The Chepauk pitch is expected to favor KKR’s spin duo, Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine, who have been exceptional this season. SRH’s batters, including Travis Head and Heinrich Klaasen, will need to rise to the occasion, with contributions from Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, and Nitish Reddy being crucial.
An intriguing element of this final is the absence of any player from India’s main T20 World Cup squad, highlighting that IPL victories often hinge on the collective team culture fostered by leaders like Gambhir and Cummins rather than individual accolades.
As KKR and SRH gear up for this epic showdown, the focus will be on the strategic battle between Gambhir’s cricketing intellect and Cummins’ inspirational leadership. Will Gambhir add another title to his collection, or will Cummins complete his remarkable journey by leading SRH to their maiden IPL championship? The answer will be revealed on the grand stage of the IPL final.
Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Aiden Markram, Abdul Samad, Nitish Reddy, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, T Natarajan, Mayank Markande, Umran Malik, Anmolpreet Singh, Glenn Phillips (wk), Rahul Tripathi, Washington Sundar, Upendra Yadav (wk), Jhathavedh Subramanyan, Sanvir Singh, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Marco Jansen, Akash Maharaj Singh, Mayank Agarwal.
Shreyas Iyer (c), KS Bharat, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey, Andre Russell, Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, Anukul Roy, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Chetan Sakariya, Harshit Rana, Suyash Sharma, Mitchell Starc, Dushmantha Chameera, Sakib Hussain, Mujeeb Ur Rahman.