NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Sunrisers Hyderabad will clash with Kolkata Knight Riders in Sunday’s Indian Premier League (IPL) final after the Pat Cummins-led side beat Rajasthan Royals by 36 runs in the second qualifier on Friday.
Hyderabad posted 175-9 and restricted Rajasthan to 139-7 to give themselves a chance to avenge their defeat by Kolkata in the first qualifier on Tuesday.
Put into bat, 2016 champions Hyderabad could not quite accelerate in the final overs and posted a competitive total at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium.
Trent Boult rattled Hyderabad with his three-wicket burst before Travis Head (34) and Rahul Tripathi (37) steadied the innings.
Heinrich Klaasen struck a breezy 50 down the order but the late flourish Hyderabad expected did not materialise.
Yashasvi Jaiswal (42) led Rajasthan’s robust reply but their top order could not quite capitalise on it.
Dhruv Jurel smashed 56 off 35 balls but he did not get enough support from the other end.
Spinner Shahbaz Ahmed (3-23) led Hyderabad’s tidy bowling claiming 3-23, while all-rounder Abhishek Sharma also impressed claiming figures of 2-24.
“Pat used the spinners really well. There was more turn in the second innings,” Sharma said referring to Hyderabad captain Cummins.
“It is one of my dreams to play the IPL final, and it is coming true this year.”
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; editing by Christian Radnedge)
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