Skipper of Sunrisers Hyderabad, Pat Cummins, appreciated the team’s remarkable turnaround and securing their place in the IPL final after a disastrous 2023 season.
SRH finished at the bottom of the charts in 2023 but brought in Cummins for a whopping Rs 20.50 crore to orchestrate an amazing revival for the franchise.
This transformation was completed with a 36-run victory over Rajasthan Royals on Friday in Qualifier 2, which sent them straight into the final.
“The boys have been fantastic all season. There’s a great vibe in the squad as you can see and the final was the goal at the start of the season and we made it,” said Cummins during his post-match speech.
“It is really gratifying for all those who put their heart and soul into this; probably about sixty or seventy of them. And hopefully one more left.”
Sent into bat by RR, SRH posted a score of 175/9 riding on Heinrich Klaasen’s brisk fifty off only thirty four balls while useful knocks from Travis Head (34) and Rahul Tripathi (37).
The spin department then came to its own as Shahbaz Ahmed claimed three wickets for twenty-three runs and Abhishek Sharma took two wickets for twenty-four runs respectively.
In response, RR were contained to a modest 139/7 in their allotted overs. In addition, Cummins (1/30) & T Natarajan (1/13) picked up one wicket each to boost SRH bowling performance.
“We knew our strength was our batting and we wouldn’t underestimate how much experience we have got here in this team, it’s like dream come true having Bhuvi, Nattu and Unadkat it makes my job easy.”
On Abhishek’s bowling prowess, Cummins commented: “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.”
“170 was a tough chase and had we got a couple of wickets we had a chance,” said Sanju Samson, the Rajasthan captain.
“That was a big game. I am really proud of the way we bowled in the first innings. We were found short of options in the middle overs against their spin, that’s where we lost the game.”
“It’s very hard to guess actually when we are expecting some dew or when we are not. The wicket started behaving differently in the second innings, as it started turning a bit, they used that advantage really well.
“They bowled their spin in our middle overs against right handed batsmen; that is where they outplayed us.”
Samson said his batters could have done something different to upset the spinners.
“We could have tried little more reverse sweep or maybe use more crease when ball was stopping and hitting back towards our stumps against left-arm spin from them also they were bowling great.” “I’m really glad for him because he has made up his mind after missing being picked during auction then came back as replacement and how he bowled he definitely did.”
If we take a look at the Sandeep Sharma’s numbers over the past two years, this boy will be next after Bumrah. He did a good job.
He also hailed his young charges.
“I think it has been an amazing project for our franchise since three years including this season, we have had some brilliant games. We have come across some really cracking talent for India.
“Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel and many others are looking extremely exciting not only for RR but surely for the Indian cricket team also. This is because we have had some fantastic seasons from the last three years.”
