KKR Vs SRH, IPL 2024 Final: Shreyas Iyer Banks On Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy Vs Sunrisers Hyderabad
Chennai: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Shreyas Iyer is banking on his spin wizards Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy to take wickets in the middle overs against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2024 final at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday. Both teams finished on top two at the end of the league stage. Incidentally, KKR qualified for the final after defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 1.
The wicket at the MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai has always assisted slow bowlers and nothing was different on Friday when SRH’s Shahbaz Ahmed and Abhishek Sharma foxed the opposition with collective five wickets. Although the strip for the final will be a different one, nothing much is going to change. Without a doubt Narine and Chakravarthy are far ahead of Shahbaz and Abhishek in terms of match experience, skills and definitely numbers. That’s where Iyer is banking on the duo.
“They are our wicket takers. They have been spot on in executing our plans. When they bowl in the middle overs, they pick wickets and keep it tight. Hopefully they’ll do it tomorrow,” Iyer told reporters during the joint press conference on Saturday on the eve of the final.
While stands third with 20 wickets from 14 games so far, Narine has accounted for 16 wickets from same number of games besides his explosive batting at the top of the order. The two-time champions have played just once at the venue this year, losing to hosts Chennai Super Kings.
For the unknown, it was the same venue where KKR defeated CSK in the 2012 IPL final to lift the title for the first time. Talking about the wicket for the game, Iyer said it’s a completely different strip as compared to which was used in the Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rajasthan Royals game.
“Looking at the wicket today, it’s completely different from Qualifier 2. It’s red soil wicket. We don’t know how it’s going to play tomorrow. Dew factor didn’t play a role yesterday. Whatever decision we take hopefully will go in our favour,” he added.