Sunrisers Hyderabad set an unfortunate record for the lowest total in an Indian Premier League final, scoring only 113 runs against Kolkata Knight Riders at Chepauk on Sunday. This surpassed the previous low of 123/9 by Chennai Super Kings against Mumbai Indians in the 2013 final.
KKR's pacers dominated from the start, reducing SRH to 47/4 after seven overs. Mitchell Starc initiated the collapse by dismissing Abhishek Sharma for 2 in the first over with a superb delivery. Vaibhav Arora then removed Travis Head for a duck in the next over, caught behind by Rahmanullah Gurbaz. Starc struck again to take out Rahul Tripathi for 9, and Harshit Rana claimed Nitish Kumar Reddy for 13 in his first over.
Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen attempted to stabilize the innings, but Markram was sent back by Starc for 20. Shahbaz Ahmed fell for 8 to Varun Chakaravarthy. With wickets tumbling, SRH brought in Abdul Samad as an Impact Player, but he was dismissed for 4 by Andre Russell. Klaasen was the last hope, but he played a Harshit Rana delivery onto his stumps, departing for 29.
Earlier, SRH captain Pat Cummins won the toss and chose to bat first. Hyderabad made one change from their last match, replacing Abdul Samad with Shahbaz Ahmed, while KKR retained their lineup from Qualifier 1.
The previous record for the lowest score defended in an IPL final remains with the Mumbai Indians, who managed to secure victory despite only mustering 129 for eight against the Rising Pune Supergiant in 2017.
