When Kolkata Knight Riders paid a record ₹24.75 crore for Mitchell Starc at the player auction last year, not many were convinced it was a wise purchase for a bowler returning to the IPL for the first time since 2015.

On Tuesday, the left-arm pacer justified his price tag and lived up to his reputation as a player for the big stage. Starc’s searing opening spell (4-0-34-3) in the PowerPlay broke the back of Sunrisers Hyderabad’s strong batting line-up as the latter finished with 159 in Qualifier 1 at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

That laid the platform for the stunning eight-wicket win as the Knight Riders booked a place in the summit clash in Chennai on Sunday.

The Aussie struck off the second ball of the innings, castling compatriot Travis Head who played an expansive shot off a delivery that swung away.

Starc could have picked up one more in the same over had Sunil Narine held on to Rahul Tripathi’s catch at backward-point when the batter was on four. In the next over, Vaibhav Arora accounted for Abhishek Sharma, who failed to clear the circle and a leaping Andre Russell.

With Starc swinging the ball at a brisk pace, skipper Shreyas Iyer decided to stick with the Aussie in the PowerPlay. And the 34-year-old delivered by producing a double blow in the fifth over. He had Nitish Kumar top-edging a pull and Shahbaz Ahmed playing onto his stumps as SRH slumped to 39 for four after opting to bat.

Just when the Knight Riders were on top, Tripathi (55, 35b, 7×4, 1×6) and Heinrich Klaasen (32, 21b, 3×4, 1×6) fought back for the Men in Orange as they stitched a 62-run stand off 37 balls for the fifth wicket.

Tripathi had a second reprieve on 14 when he survived a close leg-before appeal off Starc — Shreyas did not review the umpire’s decision — and went on to boost his side’s total.

Chasing a modest target, KKR openers Narine and Rahamanullah Gurbaz got their team off to a flier, scoring 63 in the PowerPlay. Then the two Iyers — Venkatesh (51 n.o., 28b, 5×4, 4×6), and Shreyas (58 n.o., 24b, 5×4, 4×6) — unleashed a range of shots during their unbroken 97-run partnership.

Venkatesh gave the charge to the pacers, smashing them down the ground and used his long levers to slog-sweep the spinners for huge sixes on the leg-side. Shreyas completed the job in style, hammering Head for three sixes and a four as KKR cantered home in the 14th over.

SCOREBOARD

SUNRISERS HYDERABAD

Travis Head b Starc 0 (2b), Abhishek Sharma c Russell b Vaibhav 3 (4b), Rahul Tripathi run out 55 (35b, 7×4, 1×6), Nitish Kumar c Gurbaz b Starc 9 (10b, 1×4), Shahbaz Ahmed b Starc 0 (1b), Heinrich Klaasen c Rinku b Varun 32 (21b, 3×4, 1×6), Abdul Samad c Shreyas b Harshit 16 (12b, 2×6), Sanvir Singh (Impact Player for Abhishek) b Narine 0 (1b), Pat Cummins c Gurbaz b Russell 30 (24b, 2×4, 2×6), Bhuvneshwar Kumar lbw b Varun 0 (4b), Vijayakanth Viyaskanth (not out) 7 (5b); Extras (w-5, nb-2): 7; Total (in 19.3 overs): 159.

FALL OF WICKETS

1-0 (Head, 0.2 overs), 2-13 (Abhishek, 1.5), 3-39 (Nitish, 4.5), 4-39 (Shahbaz, 4.6), 5-101 (Klaasen, 10.6), 6-121 (Tripathi, 13.2), 7-121 (Sanvir, 13.3), 8-125 (Samad, 14.4), 9-126 (Bhuvneshwar, 15.6).

KNIGHT RIDERS BOWLING

Starc 4-0-34-3, Vaibhav 2-0-17-1, Harshit 4-0-27-1, Narine 4-0-40-1, Russell 1.3-0-15-1, Varun 4-0-26-2.

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS

Rahmanullah Gurbaz c Viyaskanth b Natarajan 23 (14b, 2×4, 2×6), Sunil Narine c Viyaskanth b Cummins 21 (16b, 4×4), Venkatesh Iyer (not out) 51 (28b, 5×4, 4×6), Shreyas Iyer (not out) 58 (24b, 5×4, 4×6); Extras (lb-9, w-2): 11; Total (for two wkts. in 13.4 overs): 164.

FALL OF WICKETS

1-44 (Gurbaz, 3.2), 2-67 (Narine, 6.2).

SUNRISERS BOWLING

Bhuvneshwar 3-0-28-0, Cummins 3-0-38-1, Natarajan 3-0-22-1, Viyaskanth 2-0-22-0, Head 1.4-0-32-0, Nitish 1-0-13-0.

Toss: SRH; PoM: Starc.

The main entrance Pavilion entry of the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad shows all four Playoff Captain posters at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, on May 20, 2024
| Photo Credit: Vijay Soneji

Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad kicked off their IPL campaign against each other in a high-scoring thriller in which the former prevailed by four runs. The match was a sneak peek into the game style the two outfits would employ this season, prioritising a no-holds-barred approach to batting.

Nearly two months after that game, KKR and SRH — who finished first and second in the group stages, respectively — will square off again in Qualifier-1 of the IPL Playoffs at the Narendra Modi Stadium on May 21.

Two-time champion KKR was the first to qualify for the Playoffs and seal the top-two berth, posting nine wins. The team’s inspired decision to let Sunil Narine open the innings has worked wonders, as the West Indian all-rounder has been at his marauding best. Narine and his opening partner Phil Salt — the top two run-getters for the side — have set the tone by giving blazing starts. It has allowed the middle and lower order the freedom not to hold back.

Even as the batters have hogged the limelight, the bowling attack has been equally effective. The spin duo of Narine (15 wickets, Eco: 6.63) and Varun Chakravarthy (18, 8.34) have led the way, giving crucial breakthroughs while being economical.

The only area of concern for Shreyas Iyer’s men will be Salt’s absence, who has returned to England for national duty. Afghanistan opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz is set to take his place in the line-up but hasn’t played a game this season. KKR’s last two games have been washed out, and it will be interesting to see if the long break—the team last played on May 11—will hurt its momentum.

Meanwhile, Sunrisers sealed a place in the top-two following its four-wicket win over Punjab Kings on Sunday. Like KKR, SRH has also piggybacked on its openers, Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma—who have scored 1000 runs between them—to reach the Playoffs. However, bowling remains a concern for the 2016 champion as it has the second-worst economy rate during the middle and death-overs.

The pitch in Ahmedabad has seen four totals above 200 four times in the last six matches, and Tuesday’s contest promises to be another high-scoring one in the battle between the two most destructive batting units.

Teams:

Kolkata Knight Riders: Shreyas Iyer (c), KS Bharat (wk), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey, Andre Russell, Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, Anukul Roy, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Chetan Sakariya, Harshit Rana, Suyash Sharma, Mitchell Starc, Dushmantha Chameera, Sakib Hussain, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Allah Ghazanfar.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Aiden Markram, Abdul Samad, Nitish Reddy, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, T Natarajan, Mayank Markande, Umran Malik, Anmolpreet Singh, Glenn Phillips (wk), Rahul Tripathi, Washington Sundar, Upendra Yadav (wk), Jhathavedh Subramanyan, Sanvir Singh, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Marco Jansen, Akash Maharaj Singh, Mayank Agarwal.

Match starts at 7:30 p.m. IST.