Chennai, May 24 (UNI) Sunrisers Hyderabad started off promisingly, lost three wickets to left armer Trent Boult in power play, Henrich Klassen stitched a fighting half century, but Rajasthan Royals
controlled bowling in the middle overs restricted SRH to 175 for nine in the Qualifer-2 IPl match here on Friday night at the M.A.Chidambaram Stadium on Friday night.
SRH has to blame themselves for nearly finishing with a somewhat below par total as they lost regular wickets in the middle and ended up setting a teasing target for the 2008 champions after losing three wickets in the power play.
The three top batsmen got starts, scored 68 for three, added another 64 at the end of 15th over, thanks to Klassen’s fighting knock, who held the innings amid ruins, before adding another 43 runs in the last five overs, amid losing wickets.
For RR Boult, who had been consistent in taking wickets in the power play, and Avesh Khan finished with three wickets a piece and Sandeep Sharma picked up two wickets to choke the run flow in the middle overs on a wicket that offered bounce and early swing. Spinners R.Ashwin and Yuzuvendra Chahal hardly made any impact, despite the latter bowled with a controlled stump to stump line.
Asked to bat first, SRH got off briskly with Abishek Sharma hitting a six and four in the first over of the innings, before Trent Boult beat him with him an additional bounce. Abhishek scored 12 in five balls.
Rahul Tripathi at No.3 meant business struck five fours and two sixers, steadied the innings with a 42 run stand for the second wicket in 3.3 overs, before his reverse sweep was held by Yuzuvendra Chahal at short third man and soon Aidem Markram, who came into the side for this match, too fell as SRH were in trouble at 57 for three in five overs.
Chahal finished with three catches.
Opener Travis Head who had failed to score in the last two outings, scored 34 with three fours and a six and fell to Sandeep Sharma in the 10th over with SRH at 99 for four.
Thereafter boundaries dried up, medium pacers Avesh Khan and Sandeep Sharma choked the run flow with subtle variations of pace and picked up wickets at regular intervals.
In fact Avesh Kahn’s two wicket burst in two wickets in two balls, pushed back SRH, though Klassen’s held firm at one end hitting four sixers in his 34-ball 50.
The trend continued in the final overs as RR bowlers kept a tight leash on SRH batsmen to restrict them to a total, which could be achievable, in its bid to qualify for the title clash against KKR on Sunday.
The chase is on.
