KKR vs SRH: Jacques Kallis predicts the winner of IPL Final 2024

Former Indian Premier League with KKR Jacques Kallis, from his heart, wants his former franchise to win the IPL 2024 final but he thinks Sunrisers Hyderabad has a better chance.

The Ultimate showdown of IPL 2024 is set to take place later tonight between Pat Cummins' Hyderabad and Shreyas Iyer's Kolkata. Both the franchises have been the best two teams in the league stages with SRH finishing 2nd and KKR finishing 1st. In the 1st Qualifier match, the Orange Army were beaten in a one-sided affair by the Knight Riders at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad.

Earlier in the season too, Kolkata had defeated Hyderabad in both of their opening encounter of the current season, which is one match away from the conclusion. Jacques Kallis, who had played a massive role in helping KKR win their maiden IPL title 12 years ago, had his say about the possible winner.

Jacque Kallis in utter confusion about choosing between KKR and SRH

While speaking in a virtual interview on the eve of the IPL 2024 final, Jacques Kallis was asked about the team he will be backing to win this year's league title. Kallis seemed to be in an utter state of confusion while trying to choose between his former outfit Kolkata Knight Riders and the 2016 champions Sunrisers Hyderabad.

In his response, Jacques Kallis stated that his heart wants his former outfit to win the league but his head is saying otherwise. The former South African All-rounder also gave a reason behind his thinking of SRH winning their 2nd IPL title.

Kallis feels that the Orange Army are favorites because they played more cricket than Kolkata this week in the qualifiers. Therefore, Hyderabad seems to be a bit ahead in their preparations whereas KKR had a lot of rest days this week.

"My heart wants KKR to win it but my head is saying SunRisers. Reason for that, SunRisers have played some games this week while KKR had a few days off after winning the Qualifier 1." - Jacques Kallis said in a recent interview.

This will be the first time in IPL's history that Kolkata will be taking Hyderabad in an IPL final. In KKR's previous appearances, they defeated Chennai Super Kings and the Punjab Kings in 2012 and 2014. During the 2021 edition, Chennai got their revenge over the Knight Riders in the final.

As for the Sunrisers, they have reached the IPL finals only twice in 2016 and 2018. In their first appearance at the final, David Warner had led them to their maiden title by beating RCB and in 2018 CSK had come out on top of Hyderabad.

Sunil Narine close to eclipsing the record of Jacques Kallis and Shane Watson

In the finale tonight, Sunil Narine has the chance to eclipse the All-round record of Jacques Kallis and Shane Watson. Kallis and Watson are the only two all-rounders in the tournament to have scored 500 runs. Narine is just 18 runs away from equaling the record and if he does so, then he will become the first player to score 500 runs and claim 15 wickets in a single season.