The IPL 2024 is set to reach its conclusion. Today, a title clash will take place between the Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad. This match will be played at the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai starting at 7:30 PM, with the toss scheduled half an hour earlier at 7:00 PM. Both teams are gearing up for the title clash, having won their respective previous matches.
Kolkata had defeated Sunrisers in Ahmedabad in Qualifier-1, while Sunrisers had triumphed over the Rajasthan Royals in Qualifier-2 at Chepauk. The team emerging victorious in this match will be crowned the champion of IPL 2024. This is the fourth final for the Kolkata team and the third final for Sunrisers. Kolkata has clinched the title twice (in 2012, 2014), whereas Sunrisers were crowned IPL champions in 2016. However, this will be the fourth encounter between the two teams in the playoffs or knockout stage.
Both teams have a record of 2 wins each in their previous encounters. Kolkata had defeated Sunrisers in the 2017 Eliminator before Qualifier-1 of this season. Conversely, Sunrisers had overcome Kolkata in the 2016 Eliminator and the 2018 Qualifier-2. Excluding this year's Qualifier-1, the remaining three matches are in the knockout stage. Both teams will clash for the fifth time in the playoffs. This will be the second encounter between the two teams at Chepauk.
In their previous match at Chepauk, Kolkata had defeated Sunrisers by 10 runs. Kolkata had posted 187 runs and restricted Hyderabad to 177 runs. In the IPL, Kolkata has won 18 out of the 27 matches played against Hyderabad. In their last six encounters, Kolkata has won four matches, while Hyderabad has won two.
During the Qualifier-1 match between Kolkata and Sunrisers, Kolkata had restricted Hyderabad to 159 runs thanks to impactful bowling performances by Mitchell Star (34/3) and Varun Chakravarthy (26/2). In response, Shreyas Iyer and Venkatesh Iyer had guided Kolkata to victory with an unbeaten half-century each, reaching the target with 8 wickets in hand in 6.2 overs.
