IPL Final: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Sunrisers Hyderabad tips and suggested bets

The IPL final is upon us with the top two teams ending up in the big showcase match on Sunday in Chennai.

The format of the knockouts still causes debate because of the ups and downs of the relative paths to the final.

Kolkata Knight Riders have beaten Sunrisers Hyderabad just a few days ago, but since then the Sunrisers have kicked on beating the Rajasthan Royals.

Critically the Sunrisers had some success in defending a total in Chennai and the dew factor didn't really come into play at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium.

KKR have now beaten the Sunrisers twice in the competition, holding them off in their early league meeting and comfortably chasing down their total in that qualifier clash.

The Knight Riders have been made favourites but the result really could go either way in this one.

 

Suggested bets

For the Knight Riders, the bankers in tough games with the bat have proven to be the two Iyers. Shreyas Iyer and Venkatesh Iyer were the standouts in their last match against the Sunrisers.

If you subscribe to the theory that Sunil Narine fires every three innings he might very well be due to come off in a big way in the final.

The battle between KKR's Mitchell Starc and Sunrisers Travis Head will be an intriguing one and it sets itself up as one of the most important mini-clashes in this championship match.

Starc got Head early on in the qualifier which took the impetus away from the Orange Army. If he can repeat that feat and continue his dominance over his compatriot it could set up KKR to take charge of the match.

However, if the Sunrisers are allowed to get Heinrich Klaasen settled with a good platform for the death overs his destructive power might also be the difference-maker for the team based in Hyderabad.

Despite batting down the order, Klaasen is often a good bet to top score for his team given his incredible power and hitting ability.

The Australians in this match are shaping up to be crucial players and none more so than Pat Cummins who has led SRH with the ball. Cummins has a way of throwing any batter off their game with his variations in pace and ability to extract steep bounce. Look to Cummins to do the damage for the Sunrisers.

 

Predictions

Shreyas Iyer to top score for KKR.

Mitchell Starc to get the first wicket for KKR.

Heinrich Klaasen to top score for SRH.

Pat Cummins to take the most wickets for SRH.