Picture Credit: X/IPL
On Friday, May 24, the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) defeated Rajasthan Royals by 36 runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) Qualifier 2 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. With a comfortable victory, the Pat Cummins-led side sealed the spot in the IPL 2024 Final and will take on the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the summit clash on Sunday, May 26.
After winning the toss, Sanju Samson invited the Hyderabad-based franchise to put the score first on the board. The opening pair Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma gave a decent start to the side scoring 34 off 28 balls and 12 off five deliveries, respectively. After the departure of the Abhishek Sharma, early inside the powerplay, Rahul Tripathi also played a crucial knock of 15-ball 37 but was dismissed early.
But thereafter, it was Heinrich Klaasen who kept the momentum going for the Pat Cummins-led side, scoring a half-century and putting up a decent score of 175/9 in their 20 overs.
In the run chase, the Rajasthan Royals and his new opening partner in Tom Kohler-Cadmore played a comparatively slow but steady start, but the latter’s wicket proved to be a turning point in the game for the Royals. After Kohler-Cadmore returned, scoring only 10 off 16 balls, Sanju Samson’s stay was also cut short, adding only 11 runs. The wickets kept falling at the other end with only Jaiswal scoring 21-ball 42 and thus trailing in the game.
With the match in SRH’s grasp in the middle overs and six RR batters back to the pavilion, the game got more intense with RR needing 55 runs off 20 balls in the 17th over with Dhruv Jurel and Rovman Powell in the middle. Despite Dhruv Jurel’s unbeaten 56 off 35 balls, the RR fell short by 36 runs, giving away in the crucial match.
Meanwhile, the Hyderabad side with their comprehensive 36-run win setup the summit clash with the table-toppers Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL 2024 final, set to be played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday, May 26.
