Kolkata Knight Riders: 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 Sunday after beating Rajasthan Royals by 36 runs in the Qualifier 2 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Friday.
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 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.
Kohler-Cadmore’s struggle came to an end on 16-ball 10 when he skied to cover point off Pat Cummins. Jaiswal pushed the scoring rate when he dispatched a short ball from Bhuvneshwar Kumar over long-on for a six, followed by driving down the ground and through extra cover to pick two fours in a 19-run over as RR reached 51/1 at the end of power-play.
Jaiswal’s knock ended on 42 in the eighth over when he horribly miscued a loft off Shahbaz and holed out to long-off. With a longer boundary to use against right-handed batters via pace-off deliveries, SRH clawed back in the game via the left-arm spin duo of Shahbaz and Abhishek.
Abhishek had Sanju Samson pulling straight to long-on, followed by Riyan Parag top-edging to deep mid-wicket and Ravichandran Ashwin nicking behind off Shahbaz. Abhishek came back to rattle Shimron Hetmyer’s stumps with a flat and quick delivery, while Rovman Powell pulled straight to mid-wicket off T. Natarajan.
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.
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 (Dhurv Jurel 56 not out, Yashasvi Jaiswal 42; Shahbaz Ahmed 3-23, Abhishek Sharma 2-24) by 36 runs
