Kolkata Knight Riders are through to the Indian Premier League final after cruising to victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad on Tuesday. (As It Happened | Scorecard)
A dominant KKR eased to an eight-wicket win with 38 balls remaining, with Mitchell Starc inspiring the victory.
The Sunrisers chose to bat first but were in unfamiliar territory at 13-2 i🅷nside two overs as Starc bowled Travis Head, who did not get a single run, before Andre Russell caught Abhishek Shar෴ma.
Starc took two more wickets in his second over, fiജnishing with 3-34 as the pick of KKR’s bowlers.
Pat Cummins ensured SRH did not finish with a sub-140 total, knocking 30 before being caught by Rahmanullah Guℱrbaz, as they set a target of 160.
Cummins then conceded 20 runs in his first over but eventu�🎃�ally bounced out Sunil Narine for 21 after Gurbaz was caught for 23.
Venkatesh Iyer finished with an unbeaten 51 alongside Shreyas Iyer, who top-sꦇcored with a 24-ball 58 to comfortably help KKR reac﷽h 164-2.
SRH will have anotℱher chance to make it to the final in the second qualifier where they will face either the Rajasthan Royals or Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Friday.
Data Debrief: Playoff partners
The Iyers' 97 not out off 44 balls is the second-highest scoring partners🍨hip for KKR in the playoffs.
Cummins and Vijayakanth Viyaskanth's 3⛎3-run partnership is SRH's highest for the 10th wicket in IPL, breaking the record of 22 beꦗtween Dale Steyn and Praveen Kumar, but it was not enough to trouble KKR.
