NEW DELHI: The Sunrisers Hyderabad will face the Kolkata Knight Riders in the
IPL 2024
final on Sunday. Former India cricketer and commentator
Aakash Chopra
has tipped KKR as the likely winners but suggests that
Pat Cummins
and his SRH team could pull off a surprise.
KKR have defeated SRH in their previous two encounters this season.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Chopra noted that SRH would put up a fight and could potentially cause an upset in the final.
"It's going to be a good game. I feel this encounter will be extremely enjoyable. Hyderabad will not go down without a fight. Don't be surprised if they lift the trophy. That is also possible. It is the third final for both teams (fourth for KKR). KKR lifted the trophy at this ground itself in 2012 after beating Chennai," he elaborated.
Chopra identified
Abhishek Sharma
as the SRH player to watch in the final, ahead of Travis Head.
"Abhishek Sharma. I am not going towards Travis Head because there is Mitchell Starc in the opposition - left-arm pacer. Although he managed Trent Boult, I am not going with him. I am going with Abhishek Sharma, who is batting well," Chopra reasoned.
"He became a little too greedy in the last match and got out because of that. However, he bowled and he might be required to bowl in this match as well, although there will be one thing with KKR, there will be one left-hander always on the pitch," the former KKR player added.
Chopra highlighted KKR's strategic advantage with their left-handed batters, including
Sunil Narine
, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana, and Rinku Singh. He emphasized that KKR will maintain a left-right combination to counteract left-arm spin.
"The second player is Heinrich Klaasen. In Qualifier 1 and also the third game of the season, runs came from his bat against this team. He is not bothered that much against spin and he plays differently. He played very well in the last match as well. It was a slow fifty as per his standards but it was a massive fifty if you win the match by such a huge margin," Chopra said.
"In bowling, Pat Cummins is absolutely a gun. There will be focus on him and then Bhuvneshwar Kumar and T Natarajan. Rahul Tripathi is in good form. It seems like it is extremely high-risk batting but who cares because he scores runs," Chopra observed.
With KKR looking to repeat their past successes and SRH eager to cause an upset, cricket fans are in for an exciting showdown in Chennai.
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