Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins fetched $2.5 million at public sale, a document briefly held till Kolkata Knight Riders acquired quick bowler Mitchell Starc for $2.98 million.
IPL 2024: Outcomes | Orange Cap | Purple Cap
Former champions Hyderabad secured second place with a four-wicket victory over Punjab Kings on Sunday, whereas Kolkata topped the desk.This arrange the showdown on the world’s largest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad, the place the winners will advance to Sunday’s remaining.
The losers can have a second probability on Friday towards both the third-placed Rajasthan Royals or Royal Challengers Bangalore, who completed fourth. These groups will compete within the Eliminator on Wednesday.
The IPL remaining will likely be adopted simply six days later by the T20 World Cup within the West Indies and the USA. Cummins led Australia to victory within the 50-over World Cup final yr, defeating India within the remaining, additionally held in Ahmedabad.
“We have had loads of enjoyable and performed some actually nice cricket,” Cummins mentioned of his aspect that twice broke the IPL scoring document this season, with innings of 277 and 287.
“It is satisfying and thrilling” to be within the play-offs, he mentioned. “A number of of those guys have not performed in (IPL) finals earlier than — I have never performed in finals earlier than.”
Kolkata has been the workforce to beat this season, securing 20 factors from 14 matches and turning into the primary of the 10 IPL groups to clinch a playoff spot.
They posted a outstanding 272 for 7 towards the Delhi Capitals, the third-highest innings in IPL historical past, solely behind two huge totals by Hyderabad.
Starc had a quiet begin however started to justify his hefty price ticket with match-winning figures of three for 38 towards the Lucknow Tremendous Giants final month. He then adopted up with four for 33 towards the Mumbai Indians on the Wankhede Stadium earlier this month, discovering his type simply in time for the World Cup.
Though Starc has taken 12 wickets in 12 matches, his economic system fee has been over 11 per over on the batting-friendly pitches of the 2024 season.
Cummins, then again, has taken 15 wickets in 13 video games. Nonetheless, it’s his captaincy that has been pivotal, along with his strategic rotation of bowlers contributing to Hyderabad’s eight wins out of 14 matches. Cummins’s lower-order batting has additionally been priceless, together with a highest rating of 35 not out. Notably, he as soon as scored an IPL fifty in simply 14 balls for Kolkata in 2022.
Cummins is joined by fellow Australian Travis Head in Hyderabad. The aggressive opener has scored 533 runs, together with a century and 4 fifties, putting him third within the batting charts led by Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) Virat Kohli with 708 runs.
Kohli and Bengaluru reached the playoffs after a dramatic victory over Chennai Tremendous Kings within the remaining league match of the weekend, protecting their hopes alive for his or her first IPL title.
(With AFP inputs)
