SRH Vs RR Match, IPL 2024 Qualifier 2 Highlights: Sunrisers Hyderabad Seal Final Spot With 36-Run Victory Over Rajasthan Royals

In the Indian Premier League Qualifier 2 match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals on Friday, May 24, SRH emerged victorious, winning by a margin of 36 runs. Sunrisers' win was determined by a strong performance in both bowling and batting. Despite a threatening start by Jaiswal for Rajasthan Royals, his partner struggled and departed early, putting pressure on RR's innings. Sunrisers' spinners, Shahbaz and Abhishek, who had been sparingly used throughout the season, came to the forefront brilliantly. They dismantled RR's batting lineup, with Shahbaz taking three crucial wickets, including those of Jaiswal and Parag, while Abhishek accounted for the dismissals of Samson and Hetmyer. Get Ready for final match on Sunday

The temperature is expected to hover between 36 to 29 degrees Celsius which means a pretty hot day in Chennai. Currently it is 33 degrees. The chances of precipitation are 1%. The humidity level could be as high as 75-80% during the match time.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abdul Samad, Aiden Markram, Rahul Tripathi, Glenn Phillips, Mayank Agarwal, Heinrich Klaasen, Anmolpreet Singh, Upendra Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abhishek Sharma, Marco Jansen, Washington Sundar, Sanvir Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Fazalhaq Farooqi, T Natarajan, Umran Malik, Mayank Markande, Shahbaz Ahmed, Travis Head, Wanindu Hasaranga, Pat Cummins, Jaydev Unadkat, Akash Singh, Jhathavedh Subramanyan

Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Donovan Ferreira, Kunal Rathore, R Ashwin, Kuldeep Sen, Navdeep Saini, Sandeep Sharma, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Adam Zampa (withdrawn), Prasidh Krishna (injured), Avesh Khan, Rovman Powell, Shubham Dubey, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Abid Mushtaq, Nandre Burger, Tanush Kotian (replacement for Adam Zampa), Keshav Maharaj (replacement for Prasidh Krishna)

The Sunrisers and Royals have locked horns 19 times in the tournament so far, and Hyderabad have won 10 of them, while RR have emerged victors on nine occasions. In the last five encounters, SRH have been triumphant thrice, while Rajasthan have won two. Their last clash was on May 2 this season, and the Sunrisers won it by just one run.

The Rajasthan Royals won the toss and decided to bowl first.

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Sanju Samson(w/c), Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Rovman Powell, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Yuzvendra Chahal.

Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Reddy, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Abdul Samad, Pat Cummins(c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, T Natarajan.

Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma open for Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Abhishek Sharma walks out after hitting one six, four. Trent Boult with the ball.

SRH 17/1

Tripathi is not letting any ball go without a boundary, RR bowlers Ashwin, Boult look tensed.

SRH 51/1

Sandeep Sharma to bowl the last over of the PowerPlay.

SRH 69/3

Avesh Khan into the attack. Travis Head hit a big six, whipped off the hips over a maximum over deep square-leg. 

SRH 81/3 in 7 overs

Ninth over closes with a mere four runs conceded.

SRH 99/3

Sandeep returns on the ball. Klaasen punches the first ball through mid-off for a single. Sandeep bowls slower deliveries, giving away just three runs in the first five balls. But he dismissed Travis Head with slower bouncer straight to the short third fielder.

SRH 120/4

Avesh Khan to Abdul Samad, OUT! First-ball duck! A length ball around off stump straightens after pitching and hits the stumps. Samad missed it while trying to play it to the leg side. Just when it looked like SRH got the pace, they lost two wickets.

SRH 142/6

Ashwin with his last over faces a big six, Goes around the wicket. Too straight to Shahbaz, who pulls it well enough to the boundary. 

SRH 162/6

Sandeep Sharma manages to upset Klaasen with a fiery yorker. Big, big wicket after he scored a 50.

SRH 170/7

Last over by Avesh Khan begins with a couple of dot balls. Then, a wide delivery sails over Shahbaz's head. Next ball, Shahbaz is caught out by Dhruv Jurel at deep mid-wicket as he tries to hit. Jaydev Unadkat steps in. Unadkat hits a four behind the square, adding crucial runs for SRH.

SunRisers Hyderabad managed to score a competitive total of 175 for 9, with a run-out occurring on the final ball.

SRH in bowling attack - Bhuvneshwar, bowling from over the wicket, faces Jaiswal. The first ball is a dot, pitched up and well defended by Jaiswal. Bhuvneshwar bowls to Jaiswal, who hits a six, pulling the ball nicely into the stands for the first boundary of the chase.

RR 12/0

T. Natarajan comes in place of Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Rajasthan's first wicket tumble to Rahul Tripathi's catch - Yashasvi and Sanju Samson on field.

RR 27/1

The true bounce allows Samson to sit back and cut it from a decent height, and the ball flies across, beating deep point who was present. He hits a four.

Yashasvi Jaiswal strikes consecutively: one six, three fours. Many more to come. Bhuvneshwar bowls a short of good length ball on middle angling away, and Jaiswal opens the bat's face in such a way that his sliced cut goes past backward point's right.

RR 56/1

Shahbaz pulls his length back and Jaiswal has mistimed it to long off. Jaiswal comes down the track to hit the spinner for a big shot, but ends up slicing it. Impact from the Impact player as Jaiswal goes for a 21-ball 42.

RR 67/3

Shahbaz Ahmed sends a ball to Ashwin, Caught by Klaasen! Quicker length delivery outside off, turns extra bounce, Ashwin cuts and the thick top-edge is superbly held by Klaasen. Not an easy catch but he had the gloves right in position and held it so nicely.

SRH 90/5

Hetmyer is bowled clean while attempting a punch, as the ball spins away. Off the back foot, Abhishek claims another wicket.

RR 113/6

Jurel picks up this full ball on middle, lifting it over the leg side for a six.

RR 123/6

Cummins on the ball, Jurel get four runs. Good-length ball angling into Jurel and he picks the screws off his ball, pulling in front of square, and getting his fifty in 26 balls!

RR's bowlers performed admirably, limiting a formidable SRH to 175/9, their middle-order lacked the firepower to handle spin in the absence of dew at Chepauk. SRH wins by 36 runs.

After over two months of intense action, only two teams remain in contention. A stellar bowling display by Sunrisers Hyderabad has secured their spot in the summit clash against Kolkata Knight Riders on May 26 in Chennai.

Proud of our bowlers, but we were short in the middle overs. (No dew) Very hard to guess when we are expecting dew. Wicket behaved differently in the second innings, ball was turning. Their use of spin against our right-handed batsmen was good. (Lack of intent with the bat?) Left-arm spin vs right-handers in the middle-order.... when the ball was turning, we could've used sweep or used our feet, but they bowled well. We've had some brilliant games, we've had a great project as a franchise, we've produced some great talent for the country. Parag, Jurel, exciting not only for RR but for India team too. (Sandeep Sharma's season) I'm very happy for him. By not being picked from the auction and coming as a replacement, he has done awesome. He will be the next guy after Bumrah if you see his numbers, economy and so all. (IPL 2024 final) I think this condition suits both the finalists. SRH batsmen are very interesting, they can take the game away. KKR's confidence makes them look very exciting. Great final expected that's what IPL has been giving us last 15-16 years.

(Did you think you'll bowl?) I didn't know I will bowl this game but I was happy that I got to bowl. I've been working on my batting a lot but I've been working on my bowling with my dad. So special mention to my dad. (Pitch worked for him?) Patty used the spinners really well. There was more turn in the second innings. (No dew, that's why more part-time spin) I think it's the pressure that I've put on our team in the practice session that's why maybe I got a chance (smiles). But Shahbaz and I did well. (IPL 2024 for him) It came from Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. We won the Trophy for Punjab and the momentum came from there. I had confidence for this season from the conversations in the meetings where the batters were given freedom. (Final) It is one of my dreams to play the IPL final, it is coming true this year.

(On SRH's turnaround from 2023) You've seen that in the way we played. The finals was the goal and we've made it. (Finding another way to win tonight) We knew our strength was batting but we wouldn't underestimate the experience in the side like Nattu, Unadkat and Bhuvi. (Shahbaz as the Impact Sub choice) That was Vettori's choice, he likes his left-arm spinners. (Using Sharma's four overs) I felt there was a bit of a grip. (Total felt enough at the break?) Finals are always funny. These turn into tough chases. Needed early wickets and we got that. (Seeing how dew works in India) I won't ever pretend to work out how it works. (Final) For the whole franchise, there are 60-70 of us who are involved, it is really gratifying. Hopefully one more.

The final of Indian Premier League will be played on Sunday, May 26 at 7:30pm IST.

That's all for tonight, we'll see you all again on Sunday, May 26 for the Final of Indian Premier League 2024.