Bizarre coincidences between IPL and WPL 2024 finals captivate cricket fanatics

Some eerie similarities between the Women's Premier League (WPL) 2024 final and the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 final have managed to stun the cricket fraternity. On Sunday, May 26, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) managed to win the IPL for the third time, after getting the better of Pat Cummins' Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) side in a one-sided final. Earlier this year, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) won the second edition of the WPL after beating Meg Lanning's Delhi Capitals (DC) in the summit clash.

Shreyas Iyer-led KKR dismissed SRH for 113 in 18.3 overs, which is the lowest-ever IPL final score. Meanwhile, Smriti Mandhana-led RCB had also bundled out DC for the same score in same overs on March 17. This was just one of the many similarities between the two finals. Interestingly, the two losing sides in SRH and DC women's team had both the men's and senior women's Australia national team's skippers as their leaders.

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Additionally, both Cummins and Lanning walked into their respective competitions on the back of defeating India in a major ICC finals. Cummins led Australia's men's team to a victory in the 2023 World Test Championship (WTC) Final, followed by the 2023 ODI World Cup Final against the same opponents in India. Meanwhile, Lanning led Australia's women's team to the 2022 T20 Women's World Cup Final title after beating the Women in Blue.

Red-hot KKR bowlers set up comfortable win in IPL 2024 final

Nothing went Cummins' way after he won the toss and opted to bat first at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday. Mitchell Starc and Vaibhav Arora bowled three overs each inside the powerplay and accounted for three SRH wickets. The Orange Army lost wickets at regular intervals to get bowled out for 113 in 18.3 overs. Andre Russell was the pick of the bowlers, bagging a three-for, while Starc and Harshit Rana bagged a couple of wickets apiece.

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In reply, the in-form Sunil Narine departed early but Venkatesh Iyer (52* off 26 balls) and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (39 off 32 balls) stitched a 91-run stand off 45 balls to take their team close to the paltry target. After the latter was dismissed, Shreyas Iyer joined Venkatesh in the middle and completed the formalities. KKR reached the target with eight wickets and 57 balls to spare.