KOLKATA MARCH INTO THE FINAL! Kolkata put on a dominant display, showing why they are the top dogs of the tournament, and handed Hyderabad a crushing defeat. Chasing a target of 160 on a pitch that seemed good for batting, Kolkata needed a strong start in the Powerplay to get ahead in the game, and that’s exactly what they got.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz stepped up to fill the gap left by Phil Salt with a quickfire cameo at the beginning, setting a positive tone for the rest of the innings. Although Sunil Narine wasn’t at his most fluent, he managed to score runs steadily. Then, the Iyers – Shreyas and Venkatesh – took over, hitting the ball to all parts of the ground.

Venkatesh Iyer has been a standout player this season, consistently performing well whenever the opening pair faltered. Shreyas Iyer also played with a positive mindset and probably delivered his best knock of the tournament just before the final, which should be a warning to the other teams. Overall, it was a superb performance by Kolkata, and they can now afford to take a day or two off before focusing on the Grand Finale.

See Also: IPL 2024: Team Analysis: From Royals to Ruins: The Downfall of Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2024

In-depth Analysis of KKR’s Setup Against Head & Abhishek

Facing Sunrisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 1, it was crucial for KKR to make early breakthroughs to prevent SRH’s dangerous openers from dominating. Bowling first, Starc rose to the occasion in the very first over. In fact, he struck on just the second ball of the night, swinging one past Travis Head’s expansive drive. It was reminiscent of his famous dismissal of Brendon McCullum in the opening over of the 2015 World Cup final.

Starc bowled the delivery at a similar length to where Arshdeep Singh had bowled Head out for a first-ball duck just two days earlier. While Arshdeep’s ball moved away to clip the off stump, Starc’s delivery swung in to crash into the middle and off stumps, leaving Head stunned. In the next over, Vaibhav Arora took care of Abhishek Sharma, ensuring that KKR successfully removed both SRH openers early in the match.

Bowling throughout the powerplay, Starc added two more wickets to his tally. He got Nitish Kumar Reddy to top edge a pull shot and, on the very next ball, made Shahbaz Ahmed edge one onto his stumps. His powerplay figures were an impressive 3/22 in three overs. Remarkably, this was the first time Starc had taken three wickets during the powerplay in the IPL. It could have been 4/21 if KKR had reviewed an lbw call against Rahul Tripathi in the third over.

SRH never recovered from these early blows and were bowled out for 159 in 19.3 overs. Starc finished with figures of 3/34 in his four overs, setting the tone for KKR just as he had set the ball rolling for Australia in the 2015 World Cup final. In the 2023 ODI World Cup, Mitchell Starc elevated his performance during the knockout stages.

During the group games, he conceded runs at an economy of 6.6 per over and took 10 wickets at an average of 43.9 runs each. However, in the semifinal and final, his figures significantly improved to 6/89 in 20 overs. This underscores the defining narrative of Starc’s white-ball career: when the big stage arrives, so does Mitchell Starc.