"Way to go, Knight Riders....": Indian cricket celebrates KKR's 3rd IPL title win
May 27, 2024
Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], May 27 : The Indian cricketing fraternity took to social media to congratulate Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) following their third Indian Premier League (IPL) title win after beating Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the final at Chennai on Sunday.
An all-round performance from Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), including fiery spells by Mitchell Starc and Andre Russell and a half-century by Venkatesh Iyer, helped the Purple and Gold side secure their third Indian Premier League (IPL) title and their first in 10 years as they defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by eight wickets on Sunday at Chennai's Chepauk Stadium.
After the game, the Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary Jay Shah lauded the skipper Shreyas Iyer for his leadership and the team for their consistency. 
Legendary Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar also lauded KKR for their performance, noting that the batters put on a show in the first half and it was bowlers who took the centre stage in the second half of the competition.
Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan also lauded the team for their convincing win and also gave SRH, his former team, their props for putting up a fine show in the tournament. 
Former West Indies cricketer Chris Gayle, who also represented KKR from 2009-10, also extended his congratulations to his former franchise while dancing to some catchy tunes, totally in jubilation.
https://x.com/KKRiders/status/1794932986208809148
Former Indian cricketer Mithali Raj also congratulated KKR for a "top notch" performance throughout the season and expressed that mentor Gautam Gambhir's presence in the team proved to be crucial. 
Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag also congratulated the team for their title win, using actor and team owner Shah Rukh Khan's dialogue from movie Om Shanti Om in his tweet. He also expressed happiness that Gambhir and Gujarat Titans (GT) head coach Ashish Nehra are succceding as mentors and winning the team championships. 
Coming to the match, SRH won the toss and elected to bat first. KKR rocked SRH with continuous wickets, with the big buy Mitchell Starc justifying his Rs 24.75 crores price tag. Only skipper Pat Cummins (24 in 19 balls, with two fours and a six) and Aiden Markram (20 in 23 balls, with three fours) touched the 20-run mark and SRH was bundled out for 113 in 18.3 overs.
Andre Russell (3/19) was the top bowler for KKR. Starc (2/14) and Harshit Rana (2/24) also contributed well with the ball. Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and Vaibhav Arora took a wicket each.
KKR pulled off the run-chase of 114 runs in just 10.3 overs with eight wickets in hand, with Venkatesh Iyer (52* in 26 balls, with four boundaries and three sixes) and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (39 in 32 balls, with five fours and two sixes) shining for KKR.
