Chennai, (IANS): Left-arm spin all-round duo of Shahbaz Ahmed and Abhishek Sharma took five wickets between themselves as Sunrisers Hyderabad set up the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 title clash with Kolkata Knight Riders on May 26, after beating Rajasthan Royals by 36 runs in the Qualifier 2 at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium here on Friday, May 24.
Shahbaz (3-23) and Abhishek (2-24) collectively bowled nine overs, conceding only 57 runs on a pitch that became dry, and with dew not there, the duo made merry to take five wickets collectively and triggered an RR batting meltdown.
Only Dhruv Jurel fought with an unbeaten 56 off 35 balls, but it wasn’t enough as RR ended at 139/7, ending their hopes of having a shot at winning the title. The result also means SRH entered an IPL final for the third time and their meeting with KKR on Sunday, May 26, is their clash of this season against the two-time champions.
Chasing 176, Yashasvi Jaiswal was up and running with two boundaries off Bhuvneshwar Kumar. But Tom Kohler-Cadmore struggled from the other end, moving down the pitch and around the crease to break free. It was in vain though as SRH kept him quiet with tight lines and bounce, thus increasing the pressure on the England batter.
Jurel kept RR in the hunt with his reverse-sweep and inside-out drive fetching boundaries off Shahbaz, followed by driving twice off Abhishek for a brace of fours. He took a six off Cummins, before pulling him twice for fours to get a fighting fifty. But his late efforts went in vain as SRH stormed into their third IPL final in emphatic fashion.
Previously, Rahul Tripathi’s 37 and Heinrich Klaasen’s fighting fifty took SRH to a decent 175/9 after being inserted into batting first by RR, who had good bowling performances from Avesh Khan (3-27) and Trent Boult (3-45). RR’s seamers excelled by bowling cutters into the pitch, conceding only 25 runs in the last three overs, even as their spinners went wicketless in their combined eight overs.
Brief scores:
Sunrisers Hyderabad 175/9 in 20 overs (Heinrich Klaasen 50, Rahul Tripathi 37; Avesh Khan 3-27, Trent Boult 3-45) beat Rajasthan Royals 139/7 in 20 overs (Dhruv Jurel 56 not out, Yashasvi Jaiswal 42; Shahbaz Ahmed 3-23, Abhishek Sharma 2-24) by 36 runs.
