Renowned all-rounder Andre Russell started crying moments after KKR defeated SRH in the championship match. He was a major contributor to his team’s championship victory.
After defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad by an extensive 8-wicket margin on Friday, Kolkata Knight Riders displayed a commanding style of cricket to win the IPL title on Sunday. In the match’s climax, Mitchell Starc completely fooled Abhishek Sharma with a jaffa, staking KKR’s claim from the very beginning. After then, SRH simply couldn’t get back on track and continued to lag behind throughout the game.
Although it was Venkatesh Iyer who hit the game-winning runs to help KKR win their third IPL title, a few of their players were experiencing this experience for the first time since they were feeling differently. Just seconds after KKR won the championship, star all-around player Andre Russell, who was receiving the trophy for the second time, started crying.
“I have no words to express it [cries silently]. It has immense meaning. I’m glad we all exercised extreme discipline and focused on achieving the same objective. For me, this franchise has accomplished a lot. Russell said to the commentator following the game, “It’s a big gift from all of us to them.”
Known for his lack of emotional expression, Gautam Gambhir hobbled after the match, but after winning his maiden IPL trophy as a mentor, he was overjoyed, lifting Sunil Narine and vice versa. Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh, and Ramandeep Singh—all of the team’s young players—were all fired up during the festivities. They also gave big hugs to Abhishek Nayar and Gambhir, the coaching staff, for their unwavering support during the campaign.
Another scene that captured attention was when Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc lifted captain Shreyas Iyer after winning the trophy. Starc, who cost KKR a record-breaking 24.75 crore to purchase at the IPL auction, demonstrated his value by winning Player of the Match awards in both the qualifying match and the championship match against SRH thanks to his outstanding performance with the new ball.
Sunrisers were bowled out for a pitiful 113 in 18.3 overs by KKR’s bowling unit, which was inch-perfect on a helping pitch. As the final KKR bowlers hunted in pac to destroy the all-star SHR lineup, it was the lowest-ever total in the tournament history. In 10.3 overs, Venkatesh Iyer (52 not out, 26b, 4×4, 3×6) made the chase look easy for his team while KKR wrapped off the formalities.
