CHENNAI: All roads will lead to Chepauk on Sunday evening as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) battle it out against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the final of the Indian Premier League.
The Pat Cummins-led side will be high on confidence after thumping Rajasthan Royals by 36 runs in the Qualifier 2 played on Friday. KKR were the first side in the final on the back of their win over SRH in Qualifier 1.
After a close look at both sides, one gets the feeling that KKR has a definite edge over SRH. The Chandrakant Pandit-coached side ticks all the boxes and have an all-round side.
SRH have a few quality batters in their ranks, but bowling is one area where they are weak.
However, what will be of paramount importance for the high-voltage clash is the surface. The decider will be played on Pitch No 4. It promises to be full of runs.
While conventional wisdom is that you bat first in a final, Cummins opted to downplay its importance.
"Yeah, we'll have another look (at the wicket) on Sunday, work it out. But yeah, it doesn't really bother us too much. I think back in the day I used to think about batting first and putting runs on the board. I think teams are probably less worried about chasing nowadays than maybe they were back in the day," the Australian said.
Iyer insisted that he was not sure whether 'dew' would be a factor.
"Looking at the wicket on Saturday, I feel it's completely different from what they played on Friday (Qualifier 2). It's a red soil and on Friday I feel it was, if I'm not wrong, it was a black soil wicket. So we don't know how the wicket is going to play on Sunday. And also looking at the match from the TV, we thought the dew factor would play a great role, but it didn't," the Mumbaikar said.
"To be honest, I am not thinking about the stats. But it is all the skills and the mindset. Which team is, you know, of a great mindset and how they play based on their skills. Obviously, the best team is going to win," he added.
Cummins has the experience of playing in a final in the other formats of the game. He is also a player who uses data. "It's been a great couple of years, but I hadn't captained any T20 cricket before this series, so I wasn't too sure what to expect. It's obviously quite fast-paced, a T20 game, but I think drawing on particularly ODI captaincy over here last year didn't feel too foreign to me,'' said Cummins.
"I think data and analytics is there as a tool to use, but it's just one factor in a decision-making process. T20, you play lots of games, but no two games are exactly the same. It's different wickets, different opposition, different forms. Data only takes you so far. I think there's still a strong place for gut feel and intuition. You know, I think the way Abhishek (Sharma) and (Travis) Head have gone out and batted this season, data probably doesn't tell you that that's going to be successful. But, I know as a bowler, that's pretty scary if you come up against guys who are batting like that down the other end. So we've got lots of experience around our squad," added the Australian captain.
But what gives KKR the real advantage are spinners, Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy. The duo are similar in style but yet different. They have the ability to bowl anywhere and against any batsman and this a very big plus.
"Sunil and Varun are a very good combination. Both have similar styles but are different type of bowlers. But what is common in them is their wicket-taking ability. They are fearless and can give us a breakthrough at any time," said Pandit, in a chat with The New Indian Express before the playoffs.
