Will the Sunrisers rise to the occasion or will the Knight Riders stand tall?

The cricketing fraternity and fans worldwide, especially in Kolkata and Hyderabad, will be glued to their television sets this evening at 7.30 pm to watch the summit clash between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the grand finale of this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) at the historic Chepauk Stadium in Chennai.

The final match, which promises to be a captivating contest, will witness both captains, Shreyas Iyer of KKR and Pat Cummins of SRH, battling for supremacy.

Meanwhile, the move to open with Sunil Narine has proved to be a masterstroke for KKR so far, with the West Indian scoring 482 runs in 13 matches, including a century and three fifties.

The Chepauk Stadium holds a special place for KKR, as it was the venue where the team won its first IPL title in 2012.

While KKR’s skipper Shreyas Iyer has been outstanding this season, he will also rely on Andre Russell and Sunil Narine for KKR to win its third IPL title.

For SRH, this year’s IPL has been a dream run, highlighted by standout performances from uncapped domestic players like Abhishek Sharma and Nitish Reddy, along with seasoned cricketers Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T. Natarajan and Jaydev Unadkat.

SRH’s journey to the final has been driven by the exceptional leadership of Pat Cummins, who has already led the Australian team to victories in the ODI World Cup, the World Test Championships, and the Ashes this season.

Now, Cummins aims to add the IPL title to his achievements by steering SRH towards their second championship victory, following their 2016 triumph. For SRH to emerge victorious, key contributions will be required from Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen, Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Reddy, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, along with the leadership of skipper Pat Cummins.

With the IPL finale poised to be an unforgettable encounter, the question remains: Will KKR end their ten-year wait for the title, or will SRH reign supreme? Well, fans will know in just a few hours.

KKR Predicted XI

Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Sunil Narine, Shreyas Iyer (C), Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Harshit Rana and Varun Chakravarthy. Impact Player: Vaibhav Arora/ Anukul Roy.

SRH Predicted XI

Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, Nitish Reddy, Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins (C), Jaydev Unadkat,  Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Impact Player: T. Natarajan