In the Qualifier 2 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) beat Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 36 runs at the MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai.
RR won the toss and asked SRH to bat first. It was a mixed kind of powerplay for the Orange Army, having scored 68 runs but also losing three wickets. Abhishek Sharma (12) began swinging from ball one but also got out in the first over itself. From the other end, Travis Head (34) also added runs but only at a strike rate of 120. Furthermore, Rahul Tripathi (37) struck five fours and two sixes, which helped SRH extend their scoreboard, following a shaky odd-overs in the middle. Notably, Heinrich Klaasen (50) struck a fifty, which helped SRH to reach a decent total of 175/9 in Chennai. Towards the end, Shahbaz Ahmed (18) along with skipper Pat Cummins and Jaydev Unadkat also added valuable runs.
After a steady start, with Yashasvi Jaiswal (42) and Tom Kohler-Cadmore (10) setting a base for RR, the team stumbled hard as they kept losing wickets in the middle overs. Dhruv Jurel (56*) was the only batter who scored vital runs for the Jaipur-based team. The right handed batter smashed a fifty, which included seven fours and two sixes. With over 40 runs to get in two overs, Jurel tried his best but it just wasn’t RR’s day.
While defending, impact player Shahbaz Ahmed did an excellent work as he obtained three wickets and conceded just 23 runs. Abhishek Sharma also scalped two wickets, while one wicket each was taken by Pat Cummins, and T Natarajan.
With the ball for the first ever IPL champions, Avesh Khan plucked three wickets and also just gave away 27 runs. Along with him, Trent Boult obtained three wickets upfront in the powerful. Sandeep Sharma also got two wickets.
With this win, SRH have now advanced to play the IPL 2024 final against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on May 26.
Scorecard:
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 175/9, Overs 20, Heinrich Klaassen 50, Avesh Khan 3/27
Rajasthan Royals: 139/7, Overs 20, Dhruv Jurel 56*, Shahbaz Ahmed 3/23