Bowlers take Sunrisers Hyderabad into IPL final; SRH defend 175, beat RR by 36 runs in Qualifier 2

Chennai: Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers shone at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium and took their team into the title clash of the Indian Premier League 2024. They defeated  Rajasthan Royals by 36 runs in Qualifier 2 on Friday night to set up sumit clash againt Kolkata Knight Riders here on Sunday evening.

After scoring a challenging total of 175, SRH bowlers put pressure on the RR batting line-up just after the powerplay and restricted them at just 139 in allotted overs.

Yashasvi Jaiswal gave Royals a flying start after losing Tom Kohler-Cadmore (10) in the fourth over.  The young left hender went back in the 8th over after scoring 42 off 21 balls with 3 sixes when the score was 65. Then SRH left arm spinners Shahbaz Ahmed and Abhishek Sharma bowled econimically to put pressure on the batting side as well as grabbed 5 wickets between them. Their middle order Sanju Samson (10), Riyan Parag (6), Hetmyer (4) and Rovman Powell (6) failed today.

Dhrub Jurel was the only batter who fought slone till the end and score unbeaten 56 from 35 balls.

Earlier, Trent Boult did the early damage by picking three wickets in Power-play, while Avesh Khan took a three-fer in the backend of the innings as Rajasthan Royals restricted a power-packed Sunrisers Hyderabad to 175/9.

On a fresh pitch, Avesh (3-27) and Boult (3-45) were spot-on with their execution to ensure SRH didn’t run way to amass a big total. 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.

For SRH, Rahul Tripathi’s 37 and Heinrich Klaasen’s fighting fifty took them to a decent total after being inserted into batting first by RR. Abhishek Sharma got going by pulling and driving Boult for exquisite boundaries before the pacer had the last laugh as the batter miscued a short ball to backward point. Tripathi was quick off the blocks by hitting seven boundaries, four of which came against Ravichandran Ashwin.

But Tripathi fell for 15-ball 37 when his attempt to ramp a rising slower short ball from Boult was caught by short third man. In the same over, Boult struck again as Aiden Markram threw his hands at a wide ball and the edge flew to the short third man’s hands.

Travis Head overcame a slow start by hitting four boundaries collectively off Avesh and Sandeep Sharma but was caught at short third man in an attempt to ramp a slower bouncer off the latter. Klassen tried to keep SRH innings afloat with his gigantic sixes off Chahal but didn’t get support from the other end.

Nitish Kumar Reddy reverse-swept to short third man off Avesh, who also rattled Abdul Samad’s off-stump. Klaasen continued his rearguard act by smacking Boult for a six down the ground, before reaching his fifty in 33 balls.

But Klaasen missed the very next ball he faced, as a yorker from Sandeep uprooted his leg-stump. Avesh’s impressive time in the match concluded with him having Shahbaz Ahmed heaving to long-on and inflicting the run-out of Jaydev Unadkat on the last ball of the innings.

Brief scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 175/9 in 20 overs (Heinrich Klaasen 50, Rahul Tripathi 37; Avesh Khan 3-27, Trent Boult 3-45) beta Rajasthan Royals 139/7 in 20 overs (Dhrub Jurel 56no, Yashavi Jaiswal 42, Riyan Parag 6, Shabaz Ahmed 3/23, Abhishek Sharma 2/24). Agencies

Also Read: IPL 2024: Sunrisers Hyderabad power-hitters vs Rajasthan Royals spin; Battle for final berth

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