IPL 2024: Virat Kohli, Harshal Patel among award winners
After two grueling months of action, Kolkata Knight Riders won the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) title. KKR defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad after chasing 114 in a one-sided final in Chennai. The Knight Riders won their third IPL title, having won in 2012 and 2014. Mitchell Starc was adjudged the Player of the Final as he delivered impactful spells. Here are the award winners.
Mitchell Starc: Player of the Match
Starc bowled a hostile opening spell where he dismissed the destructive Abhishek Sharma early on. The left-arm seamer knocked over Abhishek with a peach in the first over. Starc took his second and final wicket in the form of Aiden Markram, one of only two SRH batters with 20+ scores. The Aussie seamer conceded 14 runs in three overs.
Sunil Narine named MVP
Sunil Narine starred with his all-round exploits for KKR, who claimed their third IPL title. Narine recorded the double of 450 runs and 15 wickets, getting adjudged the season's Most Valuable Player (MVP). Narine was named the MVP in two other seasons. He remains the only player to won this award in two back-to-back seasons (2017 and 2018).
Virat Kohli bags Orange Cap
Royal Challengers Bengaluru batter Virat Kohli bagged the Orange Cap. Kohli scored a whopping 741 runs in 15 matches at 61.75. His strike rate was 154.69. This was his best campaign since IPL 2016 (973 runs). Kohli also hit 38 sixes, the joint-most by him in an IPL season (also in 2016). He also became the first batter with 8,000 IPL runs (8,004).
First Indian to win Orange Cap twice
Kohli has become the first Indian to win the Orange Cap twice. The Indian batter smashed a record-breaking 973 runs in the 2016 season. He struck four tons and seven half-centuries as RCB reached the finals that year.
Harshal becomes second Indian to win Purple Cap twice
Harshal Patel snapped up 24 wickets across 14 IPL games at a remarkable average of 19.87. His economy of 9.73 is a bit on a higher side. Varun Chakravarthy (21) and Jasprit Bumrah (20) are the only other bowlers to touch the 20-wicket mark. Harshal became only the second Indian to bag the Purple Cap in multiple IPL seasons.
A look at other award winners
SRH's Nitish Kumar Reddy claimed the Emerging Player of the Season award. He smashed 303 runs at a strike-rate of 142.92 and took three wickets. SRH, who finished as the runners-up, secured the Fairplay award. The Hyderabad Cricket Association won the award for pitch and ground. Ramandeep Singh won the accolade for the Catch of the Season for his blinder against Lucknow Super Giants.
