At a certain point in the IPL final, when his bowlers were destroying Sun Risers Hyderabad, Gautam Gambhir, the coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders, was sitting on the sidelines with his face completely wiped clean of any expressions of emotion. Suddenly, he was moved enough to clap. All of his trump cards had been played off beautifully during the big night.
The out-of-form Australian star Mitch Starc, whom he had supported through his difficult times, the uncapped Indian players such as Vaibhav Arora and Harshit Rana, in whom he had instilled self-belief, the big guns such as Andre Russell, whose pride he directed into the team’s goals, and the out-of-favor gem Sunil Narine, whom he coaxed into self-rediscovery were all players that he had coached.
At this point in his career in Bollywood, Shahrukh Khan, the owner of KKR, would have needed more time to encounter such a flawless script. When KKR effortlessly defeated every opponent in the league stages to set up a perfect final with SRH, it promised a climax filled with many unexpected changes and twists. The difference between these two squads was not particularly significant. But on the most important night of their summer, Kolkata took their game to a whole new level by putting on a terrifying performance that caused Hyderabad to become completely silent.
Over ten years, including a close call in 2021, the Indian Premier League trophy is finally on its way to Kolkata. Shreyas Iyer’s team delivered a power-packed performance to defeat Hyderabad by eight wickets with 57 balls to spare, making it the fastest final in the tournament’s history. In the past, they used the bat to accomplish this, but this time, their bowlers blasted away their opponents.
The person who was responsible for preparing them for the perfect climax was Mitchell Starc. Because Kolkata had spent Rs 24.75 crore to secure his services in December of last year, a concern arose: Did Kolkata Knight Riders spend excessive money on a player who had not participated in the Indian Premier League since 2015? When Starc began the season with 0/47 and 0/53 in his first two matches, those doubts became more persistent and louder. On the other hand, they had already secured the trophy when Starc finished his three-over spell on Sunday.
From that point on, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Sunil Narine, and Varun Chakravarthy wrapped it in a gift before their batters sealed it on a hot and humid night. The delivery that Starc put down in his first over was responsible for cutting Abhishek Sharma to size, and it was enough to earn him every penny of his salary check. The off-the-peg was knocked out by a wicked curve that curled away from the middle stump rapidly, leaving Abhishek and the SRH batters in the dugout in disbelief at what was to come.
In addition, Gambhir, who had previously been a part of their title-winning campaign in 2012 and 2014, was again at the forefront of their campaign. It was during that time that he, in his capacity as captain, collaborated with Trevor Bayliss, the head coach, to assemble a team that had been doing poorly since 2008. Since his departure in 2018, Kolkata has been falling farther and further behind, and they had only made it to the playoffs twice in the previous five years.
Gambhir, who was brought back into the team’s fold before this season as a mentor, has collaborated with Shreyas, the captain, to bring Kolkata back to the top of the league. This victory ought to taste a lot better, even though he has won two titles as captain because there has never been a more consistent team in the history of the Indian Premier League than Kolkata. They won the trophy despite only losing three matches throughout the entire season, precisely like Shane Warne’s Rajasthan Royals did in the competition’s first edition.
This is not a situation in which Gambhir presents himself with a magical wand and transforms dirt into gold. As was the case throughout the previous season, the team’s nucleus has stayed the same. But Gambhir and the rest of the support team rectified the apparent flaws that allowed them to fall short of expectations during the previous season thanks to some astute planning. They were forced to create a budget for their other purchases after spending that much money on Starc. Moreover, they were successful in doing so by purchasing players with less well-known names, such as Ramandeep Singh and Anish Raghuvanshi, at the base price and utilizing their strategic savvy to fill in the gaps in their roster. Narine would return to opening the batting position, just as he had done when Gambhir was captain. He would finish up reaching 482 runs, which was his most excellent total in the Indian Premier League, and he would also take 17 wickets.
Additionally, Russell, an all-rounder lacking his performance to the point where Kolkata was even considering trading him to another team, could return to his best form while Narine was also back to his best. He returned with those enormous sixes that sent bowlers into hiding, and in the final, he ended up with three wickets, including the wicket of Aiden Markram, a batting star for South Africa. That Gambhir gave him a hearty hug after everything is not surprising.
Similar to what happened in 2012 and 2014, a victory for Kolkata would only be complete if it had the desi flavor. In addition to Shreyas, Rinku Singh, Venkatesh Iyer, and Varun Chakravarthy, all of whom have played at the top level, Kolkata finds the right backup cast in Vaibhav Arora and Harshit Rana, two pacers who India would be worthy of investing in. These two players complement Starc and are a great addition to the team. Arora stopped Travis Head with a pearler to prick the SRH balloon. If Starc was the one who knocked out Abhishek, then Arora was the one who did it.
The KKR has not relied on a single player during the tournament. It was the cherry on top, and everyone left an impression on the final product.
