Ahead of the final, here’s a look at the big stats and past records of both the teams:
IPL titles won:
KKR won both their IPL titles under the captaincy of Gautam Gambhir who is now the mentor of the team.
KKR’s maiden IPL title came in the 2012 edition when they defeated CSK by 5 wickets in Chennai.
KKR beat Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) by 3 wickets in Bengaluru for their second IPL title in 2014.
SRH won their first IPL title by defeating RCB by 8 runs in Bengaluru in 2016 under the captaincy of David Warner.
As Deccan Chargers (the previous iteration of the team), the Hyderabad-based franchise won the title in 2009 beating RCB by 6 runs in Johannesburg under the captaincy of Adam Gilchrist.
IPL record of captains:
Shreyas Iyer has led KKR in 14 matches this season and lost only 3 matches, while winning 10. One was a washout (with toss), totaling a winning percentage of 76.92.
Pat Cummins, who was bought by SRH for Rs 20.5 crore in the auctions, led his team to 9 victories and 6 defeats from 15 matches with a winning percentage of 60 in this IPL.
Under Cummins, Australia broke Indian hearts in the World Test Championship final and ODI World Cup final last year, and now he is one step away from winning T20 cricket’s biggest franchise event – the IPL.
Top Performers:
West Indies’ Sunil Narine has been a star with the bat for KKR with 482 runs from 14 matches. The KKR opener hit a hundred and 3 fifties with a highest score of 109 at a strike rate of 179.85 in this IPL.
With the ball, Varun Chakaravarthy leads the wicket-tally for KKR snapping 20 wickets from 14 matches with a best of 3/16 at an average of 19.65 and a strike rate of 14.4.
For SRH, Aussie opener Travis Head has smashed 567 runs from 14 matches with a century and four half-centuries with a highest score of 102. Head’s runs have come at a strike rate of 192.20 and an average of 43.61.
Thangarasu Natarajan has been the standout performer with the ball for SRH with 19 wickets from 13 matches with a best of 4/19 at a strike rate of 15.5 and an average of 22.94.
Why KKR have the upper hand:
KKR beat SRH by 4 runs in their first match this season and by 8 wickets in Qualifier 1.
Australia’s Mitchell Starc, who was the most expensive player in the IPL auction, bought by KKR for 24.75 crore, clean bowled Travis Head for a second-ball duck in Qualifier 1. Starc also has the upper hand against Head in Australian domestic cricket.
