While Abhishek Sharma failed to deliver with the bat in the second qualifier against Rajasthan Royals, he made a big impact with the ball in the second qualifier at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
With the pitch in Chennai helping the spinners, Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins decided to use Abhishek Sharma and the latter completely justified the captain’s decision. He bowled his full quota of four overs for only the third time in his IPL career and picked up two huge wickets.
He first dismissed Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson to put SRH in the driving seat before sending back the dangerous Shimron Hetmyer in the 14th over. The way Sharma dismissed Hetmyer was an absolute beauty. Hetmyer was struggling to time the ball and was hitting 4 runs off 9 balls before Sharma undid him.
The left-arm spinner bowled one on the off-stump and Hetmyer swung back to take a flick. However, he misread the delivery line and failed to make any contact. The ball went on to hit the top of the stump.
Sharma finished his spell with 2 wickets for 24 runs. At the time of writing this report, SRH were reeling at 138 for 7 in the 20th over, needing 38 runs off 4 balls. The party is practically decided in favor of SRH. The winner of the ongoing game will play the final against Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday (May 26).
Earlier in the game, SRH finished their innings at 175 for 9 in 20 overs. Heinrich Klaasen was the top scorer for the Hyderabad team. The hard-hitting batsman scored 50 runs off 34 balls with the help of four sixes. The likes of Travis Head (34) and Rahul Tripathi also made useful contributions with the bat. SRH suffered a loss against KKR in the first qualifier match and will look to bounce back in the final.