Kolkata: Rashid Khan produced an all-round effort to guide Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) to a 13-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the second qualifier and take the visitors to the final of the IPL-XI here Friday.
Rashid (34 n o, 3/19) first played a late cameo to help SRH overcome a wobbly start and post a challenging 174 for seven and then returned with a brilliant spell to guide his side to their second IPL final appearance. Besides his exploits with the bat and ball, Rashid grabbed two important catches at deep mid-wicket in the final over to emerge as the stand-out performer. SRH will now take on two-time champions Chennai Super Kings in the summit clash in Mumbai, Sunday.
In their pursuit of 175, KKR were off to a scintillating start scoring 40 off 3.2 overs before Sunil Narine (26, 13b, 4×4, 1×6) perished caught by Carlos Brathwaite off Siddharth Kaul (2/32). But by then Narine and Chris Lynn (48, 31b, 6×4, 2×6) had already done the initial damage. But that didn’t stop Lynn and Nitish Rana (22) as the duo continued to bat aggressively and picked up boundaries and sixes at will to take KKR to 81 for one after eight overs. Just when it looked KKR were on course, four quick wickets brought SRH back into the match.
But it was young Shubman Gill (30, 20b, 2×4, 1×6) who kept KKR in the hunt. But Carlos Brathwaite (2/16) picked up Mavi and Gill with consecutive deliveries in the last over to shut the door for the hosts. Earlier Kuldeep Yadav (2/29) stole the limelight whlie Narine (1/24) was once again at his tidy. But SRH snatched the momentum scoring 50 runs in the last three overs with Rashid hitting a blistering cameo towards the end.
Brief scores: SRH 174/7 (Wriddhiman Saha 35, Rashid Khan 34 n o; Kuldeep Yadav 2/29) bt KKR 161/9 (Chris Lynn 48; Rashid Khan 3/19) by 13 runs.
