Kolkata Knight Riders' Road To The IPL 2024 Final: Past Glories And Future Aspirations

Kolkata Knight Riders have advanced to the final of IPL 2024 after a dominant display over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Qualifier 1 on Tuesday (May 21).

KKR registered a fantastic victory by 8 wickets against SRH. They bowled out their opponents for just 159 runs, and then went on to chase the target within 14 overs. With the victory, KKR have now qualified for their 4th Final in the IPL.

Kolkata Knight Riders have now qualified for their 4th Final in the competition. They previously played the Final in 2012, 2014 and 2021. After a two-year hiatus, KKR have now made it to the championship clash.

Shreyas Iyer and his team will be looking forward to winning KKR's third IPL title. The Knight Riders won the tournament in 2012 and 2014, under the captaincy of Gautam Gambhir. The former KKR captain is part of their squad as a mentor now, and it is to be seen if they can end their decade-long drought.

IPL 2012

Opponent: Chennai Super Kings

Venue: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai

Result: KKR Won by 5 wickets

Kolkata stunned Chennai in their own backyard and won their first-ever IPL title. Chasing 191 runs, Manvinder Bisla played a stellar knock of 89 in just 48 balls. Jack Kallis also played a superb knock of 69 runs in 49 balls. With KKR needing 9 runs off the last over, Manoj Tiwary hit two boundaries and won the match for the Knight Riders.

IPL 2014

Opponent: Kings XI Punjab

Venue: M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru

Result: KKR won by 3 wickets

Wriddhiman Saha scored a brilliant century as Punjab posted 199 for 4 in 20 overs. KKR lost their star batter Robin Uthappa early. Gambhir also didn't score many but Manish Pandey played an outstanding knock. He scored 94 off 50 balls and then Piyush Chawla hit some lusty blows to take the Knights home at the Garden City.

IPL 2021

Opponent: Chennai Super Kings

Venue: Dubai International Stadium

Result: KKR lost by 27 runs

Kolkata had an amazing run in the final half of the tournament to get to the Eliminator. They won both of their playoff matches to qualify for Finals but lost the final hurdle. Faf du Plessis scored a brilliant 86 and Moeen Ali and Robin Uthappa, who was now playing for CSK, played superbly as the Super Kings posted 192 runs.

KKR made a solid start and added 96 runs for the first wicket. But after losing Venkatesh Iyer, things went south and they suffered a terrible collapse and ended up with just 165 runs.

As KKR qualify for the IPL 2024 final, they will be hoping for a turnaround. This is also Kolkata Knight Riders' third Final in a row when they qualified via winning their Qualifier 1 match. In the previous two cases when the Knight Riders finished in the top two, they ended up lifting the trophy.