Sunrisers Hyderabad, who are known as a batting powerhouse in this edition of the Indian Premier League, won their spot in the May 26 final against Kolkata Knight Riders thanks to not their batters but bowlers instead! Spin twins – Abhishek Sharma and Shahbaz Ahmed – demolished the Rajasthan Royals batting as SRH posted a clinical 36-run win at MA Chidambaram Stadium on Friday. Sharma and Ahmed picked up five wickets in eight overs that changed the game. 

Chasing a target of 176, Rajasthan Royals were comfortable at 65/1 in 7.4 overs. Having lost the wicket of Tom Kohler-Cadmore, RR were very much in commanding position and young Yashasvi Jaiswal looked very threatening. That’s when SRH skipper Pat Cummins brought in Ahmed. Everyone, including RR were expecting the dew in the evening. But in the second innings, there was no dew with dry pitch. Cummins decided to get Ahmed and Sharma to bowl. First, Ahmed dismissed Jaiswal (41 off 21). From here on begin the spin attack of the Orange Army that nobody saw coming. After all, Sharma had not bowled more than three overs IPL 17 so far and Ahmed had last picked up a wicket on April 7 last month. But Cummins had faith in these two and they didn’t disappoint their skipper.

Between these two, SRH got five wickets in eight overs and this spin attack brought RR to their knees. From 65/1 in 7.4 overs, RR crumbled to 79/5 in the 12th over. The last hope for RR was Shimron Hetmyer, who could have engineered a turnaround. But Abhishek Sharma, who was on fire tonight, claimed this precious wicket and left Dhruv Jurel alone in the fight. After that, it was a case of mere formality. By at the end of 19th over, RR needed 42 runs off 6 balls and celebrations had already begun. This is the third time that SRH have qualified for the IPL finale. Before this, they had played the final match in 2016 and 2018.   

Earlier in the evening, RR skipper Sanju Samson won the toss and opted to field first. He had dew on his mind while deciding this crucial toss. RR, known as the best bowling side in this edition of IPL, did a good job as they restricted SRH to 175/9. Trent Boult (3-45), Avesh Khan (3-27) and Sandeep Sharma (2-25) did their bit but RR batters didn’t do their job properly. Sanju Samson faced a lot of criticism by IPL fans for not performing in a high-stake tournament.