This is an archive article published on May 25, 2024
“That was a surprise” Pat Cummins talks about Abhishek Sharma’s success as a bowler in Eliminator
It was an outstandings performance on a night where Rajasthan’s experienced spinners R Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal went wicketless — going for 77 runs in their eight overs
Chennai: Sunrisers Hyderabad bowler Shahbaz Ahmed celebrates after taking the wicket of Rajasthan Royals batter Ravichandran Ashwin during the Indian Premier League (IPL) Qualifier 2 cricket match between Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad, at MA Chidambaram Stadium, in Chennai, Friday, May 24, 2024. (PTI Photo/R Senthilkumar)
Defending 175 runs Sunrisers Hyderabad choked the Rajasthan Royals batters. Leading the attack was SRH’s impact player Shahbaz Ahmed ran through the Royals middle-order picking three crucial wickets. The left-arm spinner has beaten the batters with his guile and spin.
SRH skipper Pat Cummins would credit Head Coach Daniel Vettori for bringing in Shahbaz as an impact player. “Dan Vettori, left-arm orthodox and wanted as many left-arm orthodox as possible.”
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“The captain and coach told me depending on the situation we will use you, my role was to bat lower down the order and they said if we collapse we will send you,” Shahbaz would reveal about his role after the match
“When I was batting, I felt that this wicket has something and the way Avesh and Sandeep bowled showed. I’m feeling proud at having got the Man of the Match in such a game, the atmosphere is quite relaxed in the camp,” he added.
Abhishek Sharma too chipped in with a couple of crucial wickets in the middle overs. “That was a surprise, tried to stick one out of him with a couple of right-handers and he bowled beautifully and those two won it with their bowling in the middle overs.”
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Disciplined bowling from SRH
The Hyderabad attack showed the right sort of discipline that was needed, the pitch played its part too. The degree of turn on offer in the first innings when Rajasthan bowled was 1.8. But when Hyderabad’s spinners ran through the Rajasthan’s line-up, they found 3.3 degrees of turn.
In a season where matches involving Hyderabad have turned into six-hitting contests, on Friday it were the dot balls that swung the result their way.
Having consumed 41 dot balls when they batted, Hyderabad’s bowlers bowled 55 dots. With the pitch offering enough assistance, the two spinners didn’t do anything extraordinary but stuck to the basics and combined to bowl 8 overs and concede just 47 runs.
It was an outstandings performance on a night where Rajasthan’s experienced spinners R Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal went wicketless — going for 77 runs in their eight overs.
Chennai: Sunrisers Hyderabad bowler Shahbaz Ahmed celebrates after taking the wicket of Rajasthan Royals batter Ravichandran Ashwin during the Indian Premier League (IPL) Qualifier 2 cricket match between Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad, at MA Chidambaram Stadium, in Chennai, Friday, May 24, 2024. (PTI Photo/R Senthilkumar) 
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