IPL 2024: Why did SRH captain Pat Cummins opt to bat first in the final?

SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) captain Pat Cummins opted to bat first after winning the toss in the Indian Premier League (IPL) final against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). The decision, though, backfired in the powerplay overs as SRH lost three wickets, including the dangerous opening duo of Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head.

During the toss, Cummins reasoned that batting first on the deck with no dew in the second half may favour his side.

"We will bat first. Looks like a good wicket. Never the best at reading wickets. Played at a different one in the last, this looks different. There was no dew the other night so hopefully it's the same tonight," Cummins told presenter Ravi Shastri.

"Fingers crossed that today is one of those nights. Yeah we will give it a crack. Look it's a different wicket. We defended a score there, good to be back here. I mean it's different soil," he added.

🚨 Toss Update 🚨

Sunrisers Hyderabad 🧡 elect to bat in the #Final against Kolkata Knight Riders 💜

Follow the Match ▶️ https://t.co/lCK6AJCdH9#TATAIPL | #KKRvSRH | #TheFinalCall pic.twitter.com/f4PWxfLFEK — IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 26, 2024

However, his KKR counterpart, Shreyas Iyer had a different reading of the pitch, due to its red-soil composition.

"We would have bowled. Obviously, you have a fair idea on how the wicket will play. It's a red soil and we played our last game on a similar surface. We chased in first qualifier so backing that," said Iyer.

"We need to stay with the present, stick to the basics and execute all our plans. Every individual is taking responsibility, this is a big game, we've plenty of people who're playing in a final for the first time, nervous, but this is also a good chance. We're going with the same team."

As it turned out, KKR read the conditions perfectly well as Mitchell Starc rose to the big occasion yet again and castled Sharma with a ripper of a delivery.

IPL 2024 Final: WATCH | KKR's Mitchell Starc bowls RIPPER to clean bowled SRH's Abhishek Sharma in first over

The Australian's new-ball partner, Vaibhav Arora was the next to strike as he got Head to poke at an outside off delivery. Rahul Tripathi didn't last long either and skied one straight up in the air which was snaffled up with utmost ease by Ramandeep Singh.

After the end of the fielding restrictions, Iyer brought Harshit Rana into the attack and the medium pacer struck in the first over, sending all-rounder Nitish Reddy back to the pavilion with a beautiful outswinger.

Playing XI's:

Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer(c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy

Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Nitish Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins(c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, T Natarajan

(More to follow)