KKR vs SRH IPL 2024 Final: Fantasy 11 Prediction, teams, captain, vice-captain, toss and venue analysis

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It is finally the showdown clash of the tournament that we all have waited for with bated breath, the final of the Indian Premier League 2024 between the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the iconic M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday. Both teams have traversed a tempestuous path leading to this clash, which has produced several record-breaking and jaw-dropping performances.

Be it SRH’s 287-run stand against the Royal Challengers Bangalore or KKR’s momentous 272-run wall against the Delhi Capitals, the teams have been absolutely magnificent this season. While it will be the third final for the Sunrisers after winning once in 2016 and settling for second best in 2018, the KKR, as the two-time former champions (2012 and 2014) will make their way into their fourth summit clash over the years. Interestingly, as the latter finished at the top of the table this year, they have never lost the final finishing in top-2.

The Knight Riders propelled directly to the final after defeating SRH in Qualifier 1, while the latter had to play another match in the second qualifier against the Rajasthan Royals to fix another meeting with their opponents.

KKR likely XI (if batting first)

Rahmanullah Gurbaaz (wk), Sunil Narine, Shreyas Iyer (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Nitish Rana, Mitchell Starc, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana

KKR likely XI (if bowling first)

Rahmanullah Gurbaaz (wk), Sunil Narine, Shreyas Iyer (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy

Impact Players

Varun Chakravarthy, Nitish Rana, Anukul Roy, Manish Pandey, KS Bharat, Sherfane Rutherford

SRH likely XI (if batting first)

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

SRH likely XI (if bowling first)

Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Heinrich Klassen (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins (c), Jaydev Unadkat, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T. Natarajan

Player Statistics (Sunrisers Hyderabad)

Player	Matches	Runs	Wickets
Travis Head	14	567	-
T Natarajan	13	-	19

1. Travis Head

Aussie left-hander Travis Head will be up for one final challenge after having performed superlatively well for the Sunrisers with the bat this season. The SRH opener has propelled his team to many 200+ scores, time and again this season. Head will once again feature alongside Abhishek Sharma as he looks to display pure carnage to take his team to its second-ever title in the league. Head’s exceptional run of 14 matches has included 567 runs from 14 games at a swashbuckling strike rate of 192.50 with 4 fifties and a hundred.

2. T. Natarajan

Emerging as the leading wicket-taker for SRH this season, T. Natarajan has been magnificent with the ball, especially at the death. His deadly toe-crushing yorkers in the last overs have made it difficult for the batsmen to fetch runs off him. The left-arm speedster has picked 19 wickets from 13 matches at an economy of 8.84 with the best figures of 4/19.

Players who can make a difference

1. Shahbaz Ahmed

Shahbaz Ahmed might have displayed his abilities with the bat this year but in the last game against RR in the second qualifier, he showcased his spell-binding bowling skills as well. Shahbaz had his best figures of 3/23 against the Royals which added to his tally of 6 wickets that he had picked this season. Apart from this, the youngster had scored 207 runs in 15 matches as well with the best score being an unbeaten 59. As Shahbaz walks in for yet another time at MA Chidambaram Stadium, he surely looks to fetch some more turn off the pitch in the summit clash against KKR.

2. Abhishek Sharma

SRH opener Abhishek Sharma has been the second-highest run-scorer for the team and has given rock-solid starts to the team this season. While he was consistent in scoring runs at a jaw-dropping strike rate, he also unleashed his bowling prowess where he gripped the ball to fetch two crucial wickets against the Sunrisers. The left-handed youngster has scored 482 runs in 15 matches at a dazzling strike rate of 207.76.

Player Statistics (Kolkata Knight Riders)

Player	Matches	Runs	Wickets
Sunil Narine	14	482	16
Varun Chakaravarthy	14	-	20

Sunil Narine

Caribbean left-hand batter Sunil Narine became a regular go-to option for the Knight Riders as a batter apart from his vicious mystery spinning abilities this season. So much so, he notched high-scoring opening partnerships alongside Phil Salt and emerged as the highest run-scorer for the team. Narine has scored 482 runs in 14 matches which include a century and 3 fifties.

The KKR all-rounder has been equally impressive with his bowling duties where he has picked 16 wickets from 14 matches.

Varun Chakravarthy

Another mystery spinner in KKR’s spinning arsenal, Varun Chakravarthy has emerged as the leading wicket-taker for his team. Chakravarthy has picked 20 wickets in the 14 matches he has played in. The KKR bowler will eye yet another stellar performance for one last time to pave the way for his team to its third title.

Players who can make a difference

Andre Russell

West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell’s capabilities have been second to none. However, the Caribbean hasn’t really found his groove with the bat. But when it comes to big occasions like finals, Russell would be the last batsman to bowl.

Russell has been decent with the ball picking 16 wickets in 14 matches. On the other hand, his batting stints record 222 runs from 14 matches which include finish cameos towards the end of the innings.

Harshit Rana

KKR’s young pace gun Harshit Rana has also been a handy all-rounder for the team this season. However, it is his bowling performances that have garnered attention and can make a difference. Rana has picked 17 wickets in 12 matches at an economy of 9.41.

Head-to-head

Stats	Matches	KKR won	SRH won
Overall in IPL	28	18	10
Last 5 matches	5	3	2
In Playoffs	4	2	2

The summit clash will mark the 28th meeting between the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Sunrisers Hyderabad. The two-time former champions have led the head-to-head securing 18 wins over the Orange Army over the years. KKR also won their previous two encounters against SRH this season including their win in Qualifier 1.

While the two teams will meet for the first time in a final, they have met four times in the playoffs where they won two games each in the head-to-head.

Venue Details

The historic M.A. Chidambaram Stadium will host its third-ever IPL final as well as its ninth match of IPL 2024. The pitch is considered to be tricky for batting due to its slow and turning nature. The previous encounter, Qualifier 2 between SRH and RR witnessed the domination of spinners especially in the second innings where the latter struggled to chase 175 runs.

While the ground has typically favoured teams batting second, the second qualifier played at this venue was won by the SRH where they batted first. Besides this, out of the 8 matches played in this stadium, 3 matches have been won by teams batting first while the rest of the 5 are won by teams batting second.

Overall, the venue has hosted 84 matches where 49 matches have been won by teams batting first and 35 matches have gone down in favour of teams batting second.

The Kolkata Knight Riders have played 14 matches in the Chennai-based stadium where they have won only 4 encounters, one batting first and the rest of three batting second.

As for the Sunrisers, they have won only two of the 11 matches they have played at this venue. The teams secured a win each while batting first and second.

Ideally, the teams can prefer batting first at this venue and notch a healthy total on the board and dominate with slow bowling and spin as the game progresses.

Match Prediction

While KKR have looked pretty good against the Sunrisers registering two consecutive wins over them and leading the head-to-head, they might stand a better chance to take the match and so the title in their favour. However, the Sunrisers might capitalise on the experience they have gained from playing at this venue against the Royals in their last match as they may also unleash their spin unit yet again. Therefore, the match can go down in anyone’s favour.

As per the Google Win Predictor, KKR is just slightly ahead of SRH with a 53% chance of winning the summit clash.