Led by the left-arm spin duo of Abhishek Sharma and Shahbaz Ahmed, Sunrisers Hyderabad defended their total of 175 for 9, beating Rajasthan Royals by 36 runs in Chennai on Friday. With this win, they ended Royals’ campaign in IPL 2024 and set up a final date with Kolkata Knight Riders. Shahbaz Ahmed proved his worth as an impact player in the match guiding them to victory.
The middle period is when both teams lost momentum in their innings, the dent that ensured that they couldn’t power up as well as they would’ve liked in the death overs, yet one team was hurt more than the other – and in contrasting fashion. While SRH batters were challenged by the RR pacers digging the ball at short of length and taking the pace off, RR batters struggled to cope with the grip and turn of the SRH spinners Shahbaz Ahmed and Abhishek Sharma.
Pitch and Toss
There’s a nice wind coming across the ground. That has helped me keep a little cool because the humidity is quite severe. We are here on pitch number 7 – we haven’t used it at all for this IPL 2024. 61 meters and 72 meters square boundaries – tactically, where the offspinner bowls and where the leg spinner bowls come into play. Down the ground – 77 meters – a lot of muscle needed. It looks dark compared to some of the other pitches on the square.
This surface is extremely hard. It’s black clay, that means it’ll hold together really well. Whatever moisture has been put into the surface, it’s really going to mesh it all together. I expect a bit of bounce for the seamers, not a lot of turn for the spinners.
The only defence for the spinners will be they’ve got that huge boundary to hit up against. In terms of runs, it’s a 175-180 type wicket. We know what Sunrisers Hyderabad’s blueprint is – it’s to score massive. If you do win the toss, Sunrisers will have a bat, put a big load of pressure on the Royals and let’s see how they go. The groundsman says there won’t be any dew.” reckons Ian Bishop and Matthew Hayden
Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson won the toss and chose to bowl with no changes in the playing XI. Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper Pat Cummins batting first made one change bringing in Aiden Markram for VijayKanth Viyaskanth.
Trent Boult strikes overshadow Tripathi blitz in the Powerplay
Another fine spell by Trent Boult in the powerplay headlined the initial phase of the competition. The left-arm pacer dismissed Abhishek in the first over, and then had Rahul Tripathi and Aiden Markram caught at short third by Yuzvendra Chahal in the third. Royals fielders were top-notch, especially Chahal who had a busy day with the ball flying past him, over him and to him on several occasions.
In between those dismissals, Tripathi took the attack to Boult and R Ashwin, cleverly using his wide array of strokes, blazing away to a 15-ball 37 before looking to play an upper-cut at a delivery much above his head. Travis Head, coming into the contest at the back of two ducks, was tentative early on, playing only eight deliveries in the first five overs.
Looking back now, all the good work RR did feels bittersweet. Trent Boult gave them a first-over wicket for the seventh time this season breaking a partnership that has rewritten history. Abhishek and Travis Head have been scoring their runs at 13.64 an over, the best in IPL history (min 300 runs scored).
Sandeep, Avesh plug the runs in the middle overs as Klassen continues to flourish
Even as Head attempted to break free once Boult was out of operation, he didn’t find as much success as he would’ve liked. The pacers – Sandeep Sharma and Avesh Khan – bowled length deliveries which all the batters struggled to put away, especially the slower variations. Head opened the face of the bat and became the third batter to be caught at short fine, while Avesh dismissed Nitish Reddy and Abdul Samad in successive deliveries in the 14th over.
Heinrich Klaasen, who had walked out to bat in the powerplay, couldn’t find an acceleration in the middle overs as well, but did well to see himself through to the death while wickets kept tumbling from the other end. Sandeep Sharma bowled 18 slower balls in his spell for just 17 runs and picked up the wicket of Head. His yorker, where he changed his action to be extra slingy, slipped underneath Klaasen in prime hitting form and knocked out his stumps.
RR gave away only 12 runs in the last two overs with Avesh Khan executing his yorkers near perfectly. He dismissed Nitish Kumar Reddy, who actually had a decent plan against those yorkers – the reverse scoop because there was no one on the deep-third boundary – by refusing to give him a ball to get underneath. It was high quality planning and execution.
Klaasen, Shahbaz Ahmed gamechanger as Sandeep Sharma and Avesh Khan restrict SRH to 175 runs
Barring a couple of sixes in the 17th and 18th over, and some smart running between the wickets, which promised an acceleration in the death overs, SRH failed to make amends in the death overs. However, with boundaries not easy to come by, Klaasen ensured that there were lot of twos picked up in the empty pockets on the field, which proved vital in the end.
Sandeep Sharma returned for his final spell and knocked over Klassen’s stumps with a yorker. Shahbaz Ahmed, who came in as an Impact Substitute, failed to do enough to add muscle in the late overs as SRH were restricted to a below-par total.
SRH have one of the world’s best batters as a finisher and that played a big part in their win. Heinrich Klaasen does not need any protection. He does not need his entry point to be delayed because he has the ability to move through the gears. He can resurrect a failing innings with risk-free shots and still find ways to hit boundaries when he needs to. He was 21 off 20 balls in the 13th over. SRH were 108 for 4 at that point. Batting in Chennai is tricky because of the slowness of the pitches here.
Mis-hits can still go for four in the powerplay when there are only two fielders outside the circle but that luck runs out once the field restrictions are lifted. Klaasen understood this nuance and waited for his moments; his match-ups. He has an excellent one against Yuzvendra Chahal and that’s whom he targeted, hitting two mighty sixes, including one to the long boundary. The back-foot drive over extra cover was breathtaking.
Yashaswi Jaiswal breaks free after a slow start
Pat Cummins and Bhuvneshwar Kumar ensured that Rajasthan Royals didn’t blaze away to a strong start, testing the openers with a flurry of length and short of length deliveries. In the process, Cummins even had Tom Kohler-Cadmore mistiming a shot to cover point. Having managed only 32 runs in five overs, Jaiswal broke free in the last over of the powerplay, cracking three boundaries and a six off Bhuvneshwar to compensate for the slow start.
Shahbaz Ahmed and Abhishek Sharma put the brakes as SRH stun RR in middle overs
Shahbaz Ahmed originally came into this game to try and shore up a stop-start batting innings. It was the second time in two playoff games that SRH had to pull the Impact Player trigger early. Shahbaz Ahmed made 17 in a partnership of 43 with Heinrich Klaasen to push the total up to 175. But that total looked light when Yashaswi Jaiswal raced to 41 off 19 balls. The game was slipping away. Except it had also shown SRH a way to claw back. Jaydev Unadkat’s first over – the seventh – showed signs of how much the ball was gripping.
SRH had no specialist spinner in their line-up but in conditions like these you don’t need specialists. You just need people that can turn the ball and hold a line. Shahbaz Ahmed did that and more, winning a match-up he was second-favorite in. Bowling into the left-hander’s hitting arc, Shahbaz Ahmed handed Jaiswal his first dismissal to spin since IPL 2022.
Cummins brought Abhishek Sharma, who had bowled only three overs this campaign, from the other end. He even called Aiden Markram to roll his arm over. The pitch was now taking handsome amounts of turn and Cummins used any means in his armory to exploit it. SRH produced a 33-ball period without a single boundary using bowlers whom they haven’t really had to turn to but were there now at this crucial time.
This 33-ball period also included four wickets. Shahbaz Ahmed who hadn’t picked up a wicket since April 5 turned up with 4-0-23-3 tonight. Abhishek, who had bowled his full quota of overs only twice before Friday, finished with 4-0-24-2.
Jurel fights it out in vain as SRH sets final date with KKR.
SRH pacers backed up the work of their spinners well, by following the blueprint that had brought success to the Royals pacers earlier in the day – take off the pace and dig the ball at length. Dhruv Jurel put up a fight but with Rovman Powell failing to provide the support from the other end and a fragile lower order to accompany, his solo effort – an unbeaten 35-ball 56 – was too little for Royals as the required rate kept creeping beyond their reach.
RR’s strength in their bowling comes at a price. The batting depth. And they felt it all the more acutely because Jos Buttler has left to link up with the England squad to prepare for the T20 World Cup and Shimron Hetmyer has been carrying an injury. They tried covering up for it by sending R Ashwin at No. 6 but it didn’t work.
Tom Kohler-Cadmore, who was brought in to open the batting in place of Buttler, looked out of his depth, scoring 6 off 13 before being dismissed for 10 off 16. Sanju Samson made a mistake under pressure, looking to access the long boundary and getting caught for 10 off 11.
Riyan Parag was facing 3.3 degrees of turn on average and he too made the wrong call, looking to hit across the line and getting caught off the top edge for 6 off 10. Dhruv Jurel fought hard for a while, scoring 56 off 35 balls, but the balance of power never really looked like it was shifting.
SRH have produced some scintillating performances in this IPL but this – winning with their weaker suit – was special. They’re going to be a serious threat to Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Sanju Samson the loosing skipper said :
“It was a big game. I am really proud of the way we bowled in the first innings. We were found short of options in the middle overs against their spin, that’s where we lost the game. It’s very hard to guess actually when we are expecting some dew or when we are not. The wicket started behaving differently in the second innings, the ball started turning a bit, they used that advantage really well,”
“They bowled their spin in the middle overs against our right-handed batsmen, that’s where they were one-up against us. Against their left-arm spin, when the ball was stopping, we could have tried a bit more reverse-sweep or maybe use of the crease a bit more. They also bowled really well. We have had some brilliant games not only this season but from the last three years, it has been a great project for our franchise,”
“We have found some really great talent for the country. Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel and a lot of them are looking really exciting not only for RR but definitely for the Indian cricket team. We have had some great seasons from the last three years. (On Sandeep Sharma) I am really happy for him. By not being picked in the auctions and coming back as a replacement. the way he bowled, he has definitely delivered,”
“If we look at the numbers, Sandeep Sharma in the last two years, he will be the next guy after Bumrah. He has done a great job. (Final) The condition suits both of them, so let’s see how they come back again in the powerplay. SRH batsmen are very interesting, they can definitely take the game away. KKR also will be confident, they look very exciting. It’ll be a great game, that’s what IPL has been giving us for the last 16 years,”
Pat Cummins the winning skipper said :
“The boys have been fantastic all season. There’s a great vibe in the squad as you can see and the final was the goal at the start of the season and we made it. We knew our strength was our batting and we wouldn’t underestimate the experience we have in this squad, it’s a dream having Bhuvi, Nattu and Unadkat, makes my job easy,”
“[on whose decision it was to bring Shahbaz as impact player] Dan Vettori, left-arm orthodox and wanted as many left-arm orthodox as possible. [on Abhishek’s bowling] That was a surprise, tried to stick one out of him with a couple of right-handers and he bowled beautifully and those two won it with their bowling in the middle overs. 170 was a tough chase and had we got a couple of wickets we knew we had a chance,”
“I will never pretend to work out the pitch and conditions ever, different every week. It is for the whole franchise, probably 60 or 70 of them who put their heart and soul into this and hopefully one more left,”
Shahbaz Ahmed for his 3 wickets won Player of the Match said :
“The captain and coach told me depending on the situation we will use you, my role was to bat lower down the order and they said if we collapse we will send you. When I was batting, I felt that this wicket has something and the way Avesh and Sandeep bowled showed,”
“I’m feeling proud at having got the Man of the Match in such a game, the atmosphere is quite relaxed in the camp. We will celebrate only after winning the final, tonight we will just relax,”
Professional bowling and fielding performance sees SRH into the final. Jaiswal at the top threatened but his partner TKC struggled and fell. The key wickets were that of the top-order and help came from an unexpected source for SRH – their spinners. This season they have rarely used spin except for one or two games. But it’s spin that won them the game tonight. The unlikely pairing of Shahbaz Ahmed and Abhishek the two left-arm spinners ripped through the heart of RR’s batting and that made it easy for the pacers.
Shahbaz Ahmed the hero with a three-fer including two in one over and he got the big wickets of Jaiswal and Parag. Abhishek took care of Samson and Hetmyer and that middle-overs slump never allowed RR to get back. The pitch got progressively slower and stroke making became difficult.
Tremendous captaincy from Cummins who realised that spin was the way to go and threw the ball to his tweakers. Also no dew played a huge part as the ball gripped and turned. Only Dhruv Jurel kept fighting and ended up with a good knock. In the end an easy win for SRH and it sets up a rematch of Qualifier 1 on Sunday (26th) for the final.
So a rematch of Qualifier 1 on Sunday and it’s between 1 and 2 on the points table. A fascinating match in prospect, and Kevin Pietersen on air just said that the Chepauk curator told him now that the final will be played on a Mumbai-type red-soil wicket which means lots of runs.