IPL 2024 Qualifier 2: Spinners seal Sunrisers date with KKR in final after toppling Rajasthan with 36-run win

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], May 24 (ANI): Spinners reigned supreme in the Qualifier 2 and orchestrated Rajasthan Royals exit from the Indian Premier League by helping Sunrisers Hyderabad walk away with a 36-run win at the Chepauk on Friday.
SRH skipper Pat Cummins' gamble to put spinners as their frontline attack against RR's power hitters worked like a charm for them.
The free-scoring Sunrisers will return to the feature in the final against Kolkata Knight Riders for the first time since 2018. The Riders outplayed Hyderabad in all facets of the game in Qualifier 1 earlier this week.
Missing a couple of key players, the Royals stepped up to chase down 176 against a resilient Sunrisers bowling set-up.
Rajasthan looked in haste as they began their quest for a spot in the final against Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday.
Yashasvi Jaiswal tonked the ball into the stands on the final ball of the first over to clear Rajasthan's intent.
Cummins followed up with an economical 5-run over. Boundaries became scarce after Cummins' over which made struggling Tom Kohler-Cadmore take a gamble.
Tom (10) tried to take on Cummins in the fourth over and attempted to whack the ball into the stands. He mistimed his shot and skied it in the air. Rahul Tripathi took the catch before the ball could touch the ground.
To salvage something from the powerplay, Jaiswal went on a boundary-scoring spree in the final over.
With experienced pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar in front, Jaiswal struck three fours and a maximum to walk away with 19 runs and take the Royals score to 51/1.
After the powerplay, Cummins introduced spinners into the attack and his single move took the game away from Rajasthan.
Impact substitute Shahbaz Ahmed bagged the big fish Jaiswal (42) in his first over. In the next over, Abhishek Sharma deceived Rajasthan skipper Sanju Samson to reduce RR to 70/3 in 9 overs.
In the 12th over, the writing was on the wall for Rajasthan, Shahbaz walked away with two wickets that marked the beginning of Rajasthan's downfall.
Riyan Parag tried to be a bit innovative but fell short on temperament. He went low to scoop the ball but top-edged it to Abhishek.
Two balls later, Ravichandran Ashwin edged it to Klaasen allowing the Sunrisers to exercise control.
Shimron Hetmyer and Dhruv Jurel tried to pull RR back into the game. But the spinners didn't allow the opposition batters to breathe for even a second.
Hetmyer fell to Abhishek which allowed Sunrisers to once again dream of playing in the final. Jurel fought a lone battle but the asking rate had gone out of the Royals reach.
The pressure caught up to RR as they fell short of the chase by 36 runs.
Earlier in the game, RR skipper Sanju Samson won the toss and elected to bowl. Abhishek fell early and Travis Head tried to launch a counter-attack with Rahul Tripathi on the other side.
Trent Boult turned the tide by picking two wickets in the fifth over. At the end of the powerplay, the SRH managed to put 68/3 on the board.
SRH brought up their 100 in 10.2 overs with Heinrich Klaasen taking up the mantle of scoring runs.
RR fought back in the 14th over, with Avesh Khan picking up two wickets. First, he dismissed Nitish after scoring just five runs and Abdul Samad was dismissed on the first ball he faced.
On the penultimate ball of the 18th over, Klaasen completed his fifty as he took a single on the bowling of Boult.
The Proteas batter was castled on the first ball of the 19th over which was bowled by Sandeep Sharma.
The wicketkeeper-batter scored 50 runs off 34 balls which included four maximums in his innings before going back to the dressing room. His efforts helped SRH post a defendable total of 175/9 on the board.
Brief Score: Sunrisers Hyderabad 175/9 in 20 overs (Heinrich Klaasen 50, Rahul Tripathi 37, Avesh Khan 3/27) vs Rajasthan Royals 139/7 (Dhruv Jurel 56*, Yashasvi Jaiswal 42; Shahbaz Ahmed 3-23). (ANI)