CHENNAI: Headishek is a moniker Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma earned for destroying oppositions, setting record partnerships and touching heady heights during powerplays. They rewrote the batting manual and cooked the winning recipe for Sunrisers Hyderabad. Heinrich Klaasen provided the finishing touches. Bowlers led by captain Pat Cummins then make sure to secure the matches. Put up big scores and out-bat oppositions.
On Sunday, with the temperature hovering around 40 degree Celsius during the day, Kolkata Knight Riders, armed with an array of bowlers — both incisive and utility — led by the ever-dependable Mitchell Starc had only one thing in mind. Stop the openers from scoring big and restrict in middle overs. But in the most one-sided final, KKR not only managed to send Headishek home early but tore into the batting order. A late rearguard by Cummins helped them to reach a figure — 113 — that they usually would score in the first eight overs.
With a strong KKR support in the stands, Starc delivered the ball of the season to clean up Abhishek on the fifth delivery of the match — a sharp outswinger that clipped the top of off stump. And Vaibhav Arora’s outswinger sent back Head in the next over. Then Starc removed Rahul Tripathi in the fifth, and KKR were in the driving seat. Their mystery bowlers, Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy, tweaked the story a little further. Venkatesh Iyer’s fifty ensured no hiccups for KKR.
A highly-entertaining IPL that saw records of highest scores turned into a dampener. An antithesis. Even as a storm set to ravage Kolkata late night, this news of IPL triumph would help fans to tide over the dark and dreary night with optimism. After all, KKR has won the title after 10 years.