Former Australia fast bowler Brett Lee feels that KKR are firm favourites to win the Indian Premier League 2024 on current form. Notably, the two-time champions finished on the top of the points table after the league stage for the first time in their history in the competition. The Shreyas Iyer-led side further beat the formidable SRH by eight wickets in Qualifier 1 to storm into the finals.
Speaking about Kolkata’s chances in the ongoing season, Lee said that he had high hopes from RCB but they got knocked out after a loss against RR in Qualifier 2. However, he stated that Kolkata are a force to reckon with both on paper and on their current form. The 2012 IPL Champion also called them the deserving winners of the competition.
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“I picked RCB right from the top and I was disappointed when they got knocked out last night. But if you look on paper and in its current form, it will be tough to beat KKR. I think they’re probably the team that deserves to finish at the number one position. They’re straight through the finals on Sunday, so they’ll be pretty hard to beat,” Lee told ANI.
Former Sri Lanka cricketer Tillakaratne Dilshan also echoed Lee’s statement and said that KKR have been consistent throughout the season as compared to RR who lost four out of their last five matches and finished on the third spot.
“I think, according to me, consistently performing KKR doing well throughout the tournament. RR played very good, they played very good cricket. But when you are going halfway through, a little bit they are up and down. But KKR doing consistently, they are performing in all three departments, bowling, batting and failing. Hopefully, my view, I think, is KKR going to win this IPL,” Dilshan said.
KKR players in rich form ahead of final
Notably, all of KKR’s players are in fine form ahead of the all-important final with all-rounder Sunil Narine wreaking havoc with the bat at the top of the order having 482 runs to his name from 13 innings. Apart from him, captain Shreyas Iyer (345 runs), Venkatesh Iyer (318 runs) and Andre Russell (222 runs) form a strong middle order.
With the ball, Varun Chakravarthy (20 wickets), Harshit Rana (17 wickets), Narine (16 wickets), Russell (16 wickets), Mitchell Starc (15 wickets) and Vaibhav Arora (10 wickets) have done a phenomenal job by keeping a stranglehold on the opposition batters.
Meanwhile, SRH and RR are all set to clash in Qualifier 2 on May 24 in Chennai to seal the second spot in the final. The winner of the match will lock horns with KKR in the summit clash on May 26 at the same venue.
Source Agencies
