IPL 2024: How Shreyas Iyer-led KKR ended a decade-long wait for third title this season

The sense of déjà vu would’ve been fairly strong for Sunil Narine as he lifted the Indian Premier League (IPL) trophy with the rest of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) squad and support staff in Chennai on Sunday.

Narine, after all, was part of the KKR side that had begun a new era in the summer of 2012 by winning their maiden IPL title in the final at Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium. Much like on Sunday, he had joined the trophy celebrations alongside Gautam Gambhir after receiving the ‘Most Valuable Player’ (Player of the Tournament) award.

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The West Indian spin-bowling all-rounder was one of the vital cogs in KKR’s triumphant campaign back then as he was in the 17th edition of the world’s biggest T20 league that reached its conclusion on Sunday.

However, while Gambhir had captained the Knight Riders to the first of their two titles in three seasons back then, he helped the side win their third title in the capacity of a mentor to skipper Shreyas Iyer and head coach Chandrakant Pandit this season.

It was a demolition job of sorts against SRH on Sunday as KKR bowled the ‘Orange Army’ out for a paltry 113 before chasing the target down with nearly 10 overs to spare. KKR’s domination in IPL 2024, however, wasn’t just restricted to the summit clash at Chepauk as they ended up dishing out one of the most clinical campaigns ever witnessed in the IPL.

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Several members of the Knight Riders family had a role to play in their dominant 2024 campaign. At the heart of their success, however, was their planning and execution that gradually improved as the season wore on, and became near perfect towards the business end of the tournament.

Narine and Salt at the heart of KKR’s successful planning

Narine would have every right to take the biggest chunk of credit for KKR’s victorious campaign this year, finishing with 488 runs and collecting 17 wickets along the way.

It was in particular the manner in which he carried himself with the bat at the top of the order that highlighted the fact that he had taken his game to another level. What made his contributions even more impressive was his batting strike rate and bowling economy of 180.74 and 6.69 respectively.

Narine, however, wasn’t the only senior West Indian all-rounder who happens to have a special place in KKR’s rich legacy and excelled with bat and ball in IPL 2024. Andre Russell too had quite the season, collecting 222 runs at a blistering strike rate of 185. Dre Russ was even better with the ball as he finished with 19 wickets to finish among the top 10 with a superb average of 15.53

Narine proved a hit with the ball this season and was lethal alongside leg-spinner Varun Chakravarthy as KKR’s go-to option for drying up the runs in the middle overs, the latter finishing second in the wicket-takers list with 21 wickets, the most among spinners.

However, the team leadership decided to bring Narine back to the top of the order and have him open alongside England’s Phil Salt that turned out to be a masterstroke and the driving force behind their solid batting performances.

Narine had first been promoted to the role of an opener in 2017 and had excelled at the top of the order the following season. His performances as an opener, however, began to gradually decline and he was eventually phased out of it, hardly playing at that position in the last two seasons.

Additionally, Salt had not only been pushed down from the top of the Delhi Capitals batting order despite exhibiting great potential at that position in his maiden IPL season, he would get released by the franchise later that year and shockingly went unsold in the player auction in Dubai.

The Knight Riders decided to get him on board at his base price of Rs 1.5 crore as a replacement for fellow Englishman Jason Roy, and later have him open alongside Narine, leading to an opening combination that was just as destructive as SRH’s Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, with Salt collecting 435 runs in 12 appearances at a strike rate of 182.01.

KKR’s backup plan for the opening combination also bore fruit. There was a giant question mark hanging over the Knight Riders after Salt took the flight back home along with other Englishmen for a T20I series against Pakistan, and it remained to be seen if Afghanistan wicketkeeper-batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz could slot in right away in the playoffs.

Gurbaz would end up making helpful contributions against SRH in Qualifier 1 as well as the final. He scored a brisk 14-ball 23 that got KKR off to a flier in their chase of 160 on Tuesday and could afford to drop the anchor and play a more patient 39 off 32 on Sunday after the Knight Riders lost Sunil Narine early in their chase of 114.

Knight Riders’ backing helps Starc justify steep price tag

KKR were spoilt by the presence of Shreyas, Gambhir and Pandit in their think-tank, all three of them master tacticians. Both Shreyas and Gambhir have excelled as captains while Pandit has been a roaring success as a coach in the Indian domestic circuit.

For a leadership group, however, it isn’t just successful planning that leads to titles. Execution is just as important, which was the case with the Narine-Salt opening combo and Gurbaz later partnering with the Trinidadian in the Englishman’s absence.

It’s just as important to back talent who aren’t quite performing up to their expected standards. And in KKR’s case, it was their record signing in Mitchell Starc, who had been getting bullied by batters in the first half of the season after going under the hammer for Rs 24.75 crore.

The Knight Riders, however, remained firmly in support of their prized acquisition who had been trusted with the responsibility of leading their attack in the 17th season. Gambhir, in particular, publicly defended him after his form head dropped to alarming levels.

“In a team sport, it’s the wins that matter. We have got three wins out of four. Why should I not be happy with anyone’s performance? See, people have bad and good days, ultimately, it’s the team that needs to win.

“… We all know that how big a threat Mitchell Starc is. Four games doesn’t make him a bad bowler. And four good games doesn’t make him a brilliant bowler either. So I know that what impact he can create and what impact he will create in the competition,” the former India opener had said on 14 April on the eve of their home game against Lucknow Super Giants.

Gambhir’s words would’ve had a profound effect on Starc, who had gone wicketless for 100 runs in the first two matches of the season and was having a forgettable run up until that point. Immediately after the statement, the left-arm quick would collect a match-winning 3/28 against the Super Giants.

It was that support that would help Starc save his best for the business end of the season, starring in their historic win at the Wankhede Stadium with a haul of 4/33 followed by back-to-back match-winning performances against SRH in the playoffs, tearing through the top-order in the powerplay on both occasions. Starc has always been a player for the big stage, and managed to bring that side out for the Knight Riders this season after being backed to the hilt.

And it was also perhaps that support that led to a marked improvement in the performances of the two uncapped Indian pacers in Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora, who provided valuable support to Starc and Russell in the pace department. In Rana, who finished fifth on the wicket-takers’ list with 19 scalps, KKR have unearthed a star for the future and someone who can lay claim to being a death-overs specialist for the side.

It was just as important for skipper Shreyas to lead by example and perform not just as a captain but as a batter. Fellow Iyer Venkatesh had been chipping in with valuable contributions towards the end, starring in both of KKR’s victories over MI by rescuing them from top-order collapses. Shreyas managed to catch right up towards the end with an unbeaten 58 off 24 deliveries that would’ve silenced the strike-rate merchants on social media.

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Reflecting on their campaign this year, Shreyas felt the Knight Riders had played like “invincibles” throughout their title-winning run, and deserved to walk away with the trophy at the end of the season.

“We played like invincibles throughout the season. There’s so much to cherish right now. It is pleasing, the performance has been flawless throughout. I am running out of words right now. We have been tremendous from game one, we stepped up today,” Shreyas said in the post-match presentation ceremony shortly before being handed the winners’ trophy by BCCI secretary Jay Shah and president Roger Binny.

𝗖.𝗛.𝗔.𝗠.𝗣.𝗜.𝗢.𝗡.𝗦! 🏆

BCCI President Roger Binny and BCCI Honorary Secretary @JayShah present the #TATAIPL Trophy to Kolkata Knight Riders Captain Shreyas Iyer 👏👏 #Final | #TheFinalCall | @KKRiders | @ShreyasIyer15 pic.twitter.com/MhVfZ6dPxk

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 26, 2024

It turned out to be a near-perfect journey towards ending the decade-long drought for a third title for the Knight Riders. Their only regret, however, might be the fact that they appeared to have discovered a match-winning combination on the eve of the 2025 mega-auction, during which teams including the current champions are set to undergo a complete overhaul and bid goodbye to several of the existing members of the squad.

The side that won IPL 2024, after all, had the perfect mix of experience and youth and could have led to multiple titles down the road had the team core been allowed to stick together.

Then there’s also the question mark over Gambhir’s future in the squad, with the BCCI reportedly keen on him succeeding Rahul Dravid as the India head coach after the T20 World Cup 2024.

But where there is a will, there is a way. If Shreyas can guide the Knight Riders to the title after back-to-back seventh-place finishes, rebuilding and maintaining a competitive side certainly isn’t rocket science.