Legendary South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis has unveiled his pick for the winner of the IPL 2024 as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) will clash in the final on May 26, 2024.
This encounter will be played in Chennai and KKR have the edge over SRH, defeating them in the league stage and Qualifier 1.
Both franchises were the top two teams in the league stages, with SRH finishing second and KKR finishing first. The Orange Army were defeated one-sidedly by the Knight Riders in the first Qualifier match in Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium.
Earlier in the season, Kolkata defeated Hyderabad in both of their first meetings of the current season, which is one match away from its end.
“My heart wants KKR to win but…” – Jacques Kallis
Jacques Kallis was the key to Kolkata Knight Riders’ first-ever IPL win in 2012 and recently in an interview ahead of the IPL 2024 final, shared his views on who will win the tournament this time.
In a video interaction on the eve of the IPL 2024 final, Jacques Kallis was asked which side he would support to win this year’s league trophy. Kallis appeared to be torn between his former team, the Kolkata Knight Riders, and the 2016 champions, Sunrisers Hyderabad.
In his statement, Jacques Kallis noted that his heart wants his former team to win the league, but his intellect says otherwise. The former South African all-rounder also explained why he thinks SRH will win their second IPL crown.
Kallis believes the Orange Army are favouritesThe reason since they played more cricket than Kolkata this week in the qualifications. As a result, Hyderabad appears to be ahead of schedule in their preparations, whilst KKR has had a lot of relaxation this week.
“My heart wants KKR to win it but my head is saying SunRisers. Reason for that, SunRisers have played some games this week while KKR had a few days off after winning the Qualifier 1,” Jacques Kallis said in a recent interview.
🗣Jacques Kallis: "My heart wants KKR to win it but my head is saying SunRisers. Reason for that, SunRisers have played some games this week while KKR had a few days off after winning the Qualifier 1." pic.twitter.com/eBjmZkGycP
— KnightRidersXtra (@KRxtra) May 26, 2024
For the first time in IPL history, Kolkata will face Hyderabad in an IPL final. In their previous visits, KKR defeated the Chennai Super Kings in 2012 and the Punjab Kings in 2014.
The Sunrisers have only made it to the IPL finals twice: in 2016 and 2018. David Warner guided them to their first final victory, defeating RCB.
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