The Kolkata Knight Riders booked a place in the IPL final for the fourth time with a convincing eight-wicket win over the Sunrisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 1. Mitchell Starc was the star performer with three wickets in the powerplay to have SRH restricted to a modest 159.
Despite Rahul Tripathi's valiant effort with a brisk 55 off 35 balls and Heinrich Klaasen's quickfire 32 off 21 balls, their partnership of 62 runs stood out amidst a lackluster batting display from SRH. However, it wasn't enough to challenge KKR's dominance.
KKR chased the target down quite easily, courtesy of brilliant unbeaten knocks from Venkatesh Iyer and skipper Shreyas Iyer, who scored 51 not out and 58 not out, respectively, in a clinical chase that they completed in just 13.4 overs. This victory has taken KKR to the final.
SRH, however, still has an opportunity at redemption in the tournament with their entry into the final in the tournament through the Eliminator route in Chennai on Friday against the winner of the Eliminator.
Brief scores:
SRH 159 all out in 19.3 overs: Rahul Tripathi 55; Mitchell Starc 3/34.
KKR 164/2 in 13.4 ov (Venkatesh Iyer 51*, Shreyas Iyer 58*; T Natarajan 1/22).
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