An absolute rout of SRH by KKR, who have had a dominant season, raising the bar once again. They were the best batting and bowling side of the tournament. From the opening duo of Sunil Narine and Phil Salt to the six bowlers who kept doing the job match in match out. And then the Iyers in the middle, and Andre Russell, who loves the franchise for how much they have done for him, putting in his best bowling season. Everything has fallen in place for them. Now we leave them with their celebrations and you with a teaser from our final report.

Just like the 2015 World Cup final, Mitchell Starc led the rout of the second-best team of the tournament as Kolkata Knight Riders completed the most one-sided IPL final for their third title, their second in Chennai. Starc started with arguably the ball of the tournament, and the most complete attack of the tournament was too good for Sunrisers Hyderabad on a pitch that offered seam movement for at least seven overs followed by grip off the surface too. SRH were bowled out for the lowest total in an IPL final, 113, which KKR chased down with 57 balls to spare thanks to Venkatesh Iyer’s blitz of 52 off 26. Five of the six bowlers used by KKR took a wicket in their first over, including a golden duck for SRH’s talisman Travis Head to Vaibhav Arora in the second over. It is hard to find fault with SRH who had to take risks when KKR’s strategy was straightforward: once the ball is moving, just minimise bad balls and experiment less. Whenever SRH looked to force the pace, they ended up losing wickets.