KKR vs Royals would have been a dream final and intriguing contest

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Picture this 2024 IPL final: Kolkata Knight Riders Vs Rajasthan Royals or KKR Vs SRH. However, in a perfect IPL final, one would have loved to see Kolkata Vs Rajasthan Royals. It would be the best Super Sunday. All fans are looking for a good contest between bat and ball, and KKR’s batting versus RRs’ bowling would have been a perfect script.

Now that it is KKR Vs SRH, it doesn’t mean that Pat Cummins and his men don’t deserve to play the 2024 IPL final. The question is —will a strong and dependable side like KKR playing a team like unpredictable SRH in the IPL final find it an easy-peasy match?

Not to forget that Rajasthan’s batting has blown hot and cold at the fag-end of the league stage. But till their knock-stages, they bowled with better line and length. Some of their bowlers like R Ashwin and Trent Boult were amazing. Even Yuzi Chahal was so good that he made his comeback into the Indian team for the T20 World Cup.

Diblu-dobly Sandeep Sharma has been simply brilliant. He has been spoken highly of as someone who was never in the reckoning for the Indian team and bowled his heart out.

In other words, Rajasthan has bowlers for every situation. Even Avesh Khan, who came from LSG, was at it hao best. Most importantly, Rajasthan’s captain, Sanju Samson, rarely used more than five bowlers even when they went for runs. He didn’t prevent them from bowling their full quota of overs either. He is the bowler’s captain.

How many captains would encourage his strike bowler to bowl his first three overs in the power-play? It is also true that if Boult, who is the best power-play bowler in the T20 format, is in action, the job becomes easy for the captain.

Even Ashwin, who wasn’t taking wickets in the initial part of the tournament, was persistently made to play because of his wealth of experience. Ashwin was so good at what he was doing in the Eliminator against an in-form team like the RCB, that he bowled four overs, conceded 19 runs, and got two wickets to his credit.

The best part of the story is that whosoever plays, he can turn it around at any time. It could be Boult, Ashwin, Yuzi, Sandeep, or Avesh. The good old saying goes — batters win you games, and bowlers win your tournaments. Unfortunately, the Rajasthan batters were a big flop show.

Chasing 176 to win over SRH in the second qualifier, none of the Rajasthan batters were up for the challenge. They were listless. From here on, it seems that the ones who will bat well will enjoy the last laugh. That is because the contest will be between the KKR and SRH batters now!