Kolkata Knight Riders cruise to IPL final

Mitchell Starc dismantled Sunrisers Hyderabad’s batting powerhouse for 159. He spearheaded two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders to the Indian Premier League final with a crushing eight-wicket win in the playoff.

Starc, who had signed for a record-breaking $2.9 million in his IPL return, reserved his best for the big game in the playoff with 3-34 after Hyderabad won the toss but crumbled against the Australian left-arm fast bowler.

Kolkata, which topped the points table with nine wins, cruised to 164-2 in just 13.4 overs with captain Shreyas Iyer (58) and Venkatesh Iyer (51) hitting unbeaten half-centuries.

On Friday, Hyderabad will get another chance to qualify for the final when they meet the winner of Wednesday’s eliminator between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Rajasthan Royals.

Starc sliced through the top order with his impeccable seam and swing and reduced Hyderabad to 39-4 inside the batting power play. Starc had his Australian teammate Travis Head for his second successive duck in the tournament when he clean bowled him off the second delivery that swung away late from the left-hander.

Andre Russell then timed his jump to perfection and held onto a terrific catch of Abhishek Sharma (3) at extra cover off Vaibhav Arora (1-17) in the second over. Starc beat Nitish Kumar Reddy (9) through pace off a short ball, and then Shahbaz Ahmed played the ball back onto his stumps off the next delivery.

Starc should have dismissed top-scorer Rahul Tripathi (55) for 15 in his second over when television replays suggested the ball had hit the right-hander flush on foot, but Kolkata didn’t get for the referral.

Tripathi raised his half-century off 29 balls, and Heinrich Klaasen (32) revived the innings with a 62-run stand. Still, Kolkata returned strongly in the middle overs once Klaasen holed out in the deep off Varun Chakravarthy (2-26) in the 11th over.

Hyderabad was in danger of getting out cheaply at 9-126 before Pat Cummins (30) farmed the strike in the last four overs and pushed the score to some respectability.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz (23) and Sunil Narine (21) provided Kolkata with a rollicking start, 44 off just 20 balls, as Cummins leaked 20 runs off his first over.

Gurbaz, playing his first game of the season after Phil Salt returned to England for the Twenty20 series against Pakistan, hit two sixes, and Narine also smacked four boundaries.

Shreyas and Venkatesh then shared a rapid 97-run stand as Shreyas rushed through the chase by striking three sixes and a four against Head.