Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins fetched $2.5 million at auction, a record briefly held until Kolkata Knight Riders acquired fast bowler Mitchell Starc for $2.98 million.
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Former champions Hyderabad secured second place with a four-wicket victory over Punjab Kings on Sunday, while Kolkata topped the table.This set up the showdown at the world’s largest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad, where the winners will advance to Sunday’s final.
The losers will have a second chance on Friday against either the third-placed Rajasthan Royals or Royal Challengers Bangalore, who finished fourth. These teams will compete in the Eliminator on Wednesday.
The IPL final will be followed just six days later by the T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the United States. Cummins led Australia to victory in the 50-over World Cup last year, defeating India in the final, also held in Ahmedabad.
“We’ve had a lot of fun and played some really great cricket,” Cummins said of his side that twice broke the IPL scoring record this season, with innings of 277 and 287.
“It’s satisfying and exciting” to be in the play-offs, he said. “A few of these guys haven’t played in (IPL) finals before — I haven’t played in finals before.”
Kolkata has been the team to beat this season, securing 20 points from 14 matches and becoming the first of the 10 IPL teams to clinch a playoff spot.
They posted a remarkable 272 for 7 against the Delhi Capitals, the third-highest innings in IPL history, only behind two massive totals by Hyderabad.
Starc had a quiet start but began to justify his hefty price tag with match-winning figures of 3 for 38 against the Lucknow Super Giants last month. He then followed up with 4 for 33 against the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium earlier this month, finding his form just in time for the World Cup.
Although Starc has taken 12 wickets in 12 matches, his economy rate has been over 11 per over on the batting-friendly pitches of the 2024 season.
Cummins, on the other hand, has taken 15 wickets in 13 games. However, it is his captaincy that has been pivotal, with his strategic rotation of bowlers contributing to Hyderabad’s eight wins out of 14 matches. Cummins’s lower-order batting has also been valuable, including a highest score of 35 not out. Notably, he once scored an IPL fifty in just 14 balls for Kolkata in 2022.
Cummins is joined by fellow Australian Travis Head in Hyderabad. The aggressive opener has scored 533 runs, including a century and four fifties, placing him third in the batting charts led by Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) Virat Kohli with 708 runs.
Kohli and Bengaluru reached the playoffs after a dramatic victory over Chennai Super Kings in the final league match of the weekend, keeping their hopes alive for their first IPL title.
(With AFP inputs)