New Delhi: Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) spectacular performance against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the Qualifier 1 of IPL 2024 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Tuesday left every fan of the “team in purple” extremely happy. Like many others, co-owner and Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan couldn’t stop himself from jumping with joy as he watched his team enter the final live from the stands.

King Khan was accompanied by his daughter Suhana Khan, younger son AbRam, manager Pooja Dadlani. KKR co-owners Juhi Chawla and Jay Mehta and Suhana’s close friends Ananya Panday, Shanaya Kapoor, Navya Nanda and Agastya Nanda were also present at the stadium last evening and cheering for KKR.

After the match, Shah Rukh, Suhana and AbRam took a round of the Narendra Modi Stadium to greet the audience. The ‘Jawaan’ star not only greeted the audience with folded hands but also mesmerized them with his signature pose.

Also, while greeting the fans, Shahrukh inadvertently disrupted JioCinema’s IPL 2024 Hindi broadcast show, which was being shot live on the ground.

After this, Shahrukh apologized to former Indian cricketers Suresh Raina, Akash Chopra and Parthiv Patel who were busy hosting the post match show. Shahrukh hugged all of them after accidentally bumping into them.

“Oh, what a guy! A legend. He didn’t even realize he walked into the show. He was very apologetic, but I said, ‘You made our day. You’re a showstopper,'” Aakash Chopra with Shah Rukh Said immediately after a warm greeting.

Summarizing the match, Sunrisers Hyderabad chose to bat first. After being reduced to 39/4 after Mitchell Starc’s brilliant powerplay spell, Rahul Tripathi (55 off 35 balls, seven fours and a six) and Heinrich Klaasen (32 off 21 balls, three fours and a six) put on 62 runs. The run partnership helped SRH cross the 100-run mark. But Sunrisers’ wickets kept falling as the bowlers were successful in maintaining pressure on KKR. The last innings from captain Mitchell Starc (30 runs in 24 balls, two fours and two sixes) took SRH to a respectable score of 159 runs in 19.3 overs.

Starc was the best bowler for KKR, taking three wickets for 34 runs in four overs and once again impressed on the big stage. Varun Chakraborty also took two wickets for 26 runs in four overs. Vaibhav Arora, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell and Vaibhav Arora got one wicket each.

Chasing a target of 160 runs, a 44-run partnership between openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz (23 off 14 balls, two fours and two sixes) and Sunil Narine (21 off 16 balls, four fours) provided KKR with a perfect platform. Aggressive half-centuries from skipper Shreyas Iyer (58* off 24 balls, five fours and four sixes) and Venkatesh Iyer (51* off 28 balls, five fours and four sixes) made a mockery of SRH’s bowling and run-chase to win the match by eight wickets with 38 balls to spare.

With this win, KKR have secured a direct berth in the final, while SRH have another chance in the title clash in the eliminator match between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Wednesday. Will play in qualifier two against the winner.

Starc received the ‘Player of the Match’ award.

KKR will now play their fourth IPL final in Chennai on Sunday. Now it remains to be seen which team among Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) will face KKR in the final match.