FACT CHECK: Ananya Pandey PRAYING For Every KKR Run During IPL 2024 Final vs SRH; Pics go VIRAL

Chennai: So was actress Ananya Pandey praying for every Kolkata Knight Riders run during their chase in the IPL 2024 final versus Sunrisers Hyderabad in Chepauk on Sunday? Well, a picture has gone viral on social space which claims that the actress was praying for every KKR run. Well, the truth is – she was clapping when the shot was taken. She was not praying for every KKR run from the stands.

“She is clapping and this picture has been clicked while she was blinking her eyes…reach keliye aj kal bhai kuch bhi post kar raha hey,” wrote one user on the picture.

She is clapping and this picture has been clicked while she was blinking her eyes…reach keliye aj kal bhai kuch bhi post kar raha hey

— Sann (@san_x_m) May 26, 2024

Meanwhile, the Knight Riders beat the Sunrisers by eight wickets to clinch their third IPL title. Andre Russell picked up three wickets with the ball, while Mitchell Starc set the tone in the first over with the wicket of Abhishek Sharma. The Hyderabad franchise were bundled out for 113.

Chasing 114, KKR lost Sunil Narine cheaply when he went too early in his flick off Pat Cummins and thick leading edge was caught by deep mid-wicket, after hitting a pulled six. Venkatesh launched a counter-attack by dancing down the pitch to smack Bhuvneshwar Kumar for two successive sixes, after glancing him for a four to take 20 runs off the third over.

From the other end, Rahmanullah Gurbaz brought out his cut and loft to take two fours, followed by outside edges giving him two more boundaries. Venkatesh cut and pulled fiercely off T Natrajan for consecutive fours, before flicking and swiping handsomely to take six and four respectively off the left-arm pacer, as KKR reached 72/1 at the end of power-play, also the highest total in a six-over phase of the IPL finals.

Gurbaz took over by sweeping Shahbaz Ahmed for six and lofting the left-arm spinner for another maximum, happening on the either side of pulling Jaydev Unadkat for four. But Shahbaz had the last laugh by trapping a sweeping Gurbaz lbw.

Shreyas Iyer opened his account by reverse-sweeping Shahbaz for four, followed by Venkatesh getting his fifty in 24 balls and he fittingly finished off the chase with a single to clinch third IPL title for KKR. It also the first time Shreyas becomes an IPL winning captain on his second attempt, after being excluded from the Test team and BCCI central contracts earlier this year.

Brief Scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 113 in 18.3 overs (Pat Cummins 24, Aiden Markram 20; Andre Russell 3-19, Mitchell Starc 2-14) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 114/2 in 10.3 overs (Venkatesh Iyer 52 not out, Rahmanullah Gurbaz 39; Pat Cummins 1-18, Shahbaz Ahmed 1-22) by eight wickets.

(With IANS inputs)