Rashid's all-around show took SRH to final of the IPL 2018

Sunrisers Hyderabad fixed a date with Chennai Super Kings in the final of VIVO IPL 2018 after they beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 13 runs in the second qualifier at historic Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Friday (May 25). It was Rashid Khan again who snatched the win from KKR's hand. First with the bat (34* off 10 balls) and later with his magical hands.

In this all-important qualifier, KKR put SRH to bat first. SRH, despite suffering middle-order collapse, put 174 on the board. Thanks to Rashid Khan's blitzing knock. In reply, KKR off to a flying start and scored 67 in first 6 overs. But once Rashid came into the attack he pulled KKR on the back foot by picking Uthappa, Lynn, and Russell. They could not recover from this and manage only 160 for 9 after 20 overs.

After putting to bat first, SRH started off well. Shikhar Dhawan and Wriddhiman Saha added 56 for the first wicket before Kuldeep Yadav brought into the attack and dismissed Dhawan on his first ball and three balls later, skipper Kane Williamson became his second victim in that over. Dhawan scored 34 off 24 balls while Williamson could manage only 3 off 3 balls. Saha and Shakib Al Hasan tried to recover but this time Piyush Chawla did damage to SRH by picking Saha. Saha tried to step down but missed the completely as Dinesh Karthik did the rest behind stumps.

However, Shakib and Deepak Hooda tried to bring back SRH into the game by adding 29 for the 4th wicket. But once Shakib (28 off 24 balls) got out on 113, SRH lose their way and reduced to 138 for 8 after 18.1 over.

When Rashid came to bat, SRH were 134 after 17.5 overs. He started his inning with a four to Prasidh Krishna and followed with two sixes to Shivam Mavi in 19th over. He didn't stop there as he hammered two sixes and a four to Prasidh in last over and gave SRH a very good total to defend.

Kuldeep Yadav and Sunil Narine were the stars with the ball. Yadav who conceded 29 runs in 4 overs and picked two wickets while Narine finished with 1 for 24 in his 4 overs of spell.

In reply of 175, Narine and Chris Lynn gave KKR a flying start. Narine played the way he had been playing in this IPL. Scored 26 off 13 balls before Siddarth Kaul got him. However, Lynn didn't affect from Narine's wicket and kept playing his shots. Nitish Rana also joined the party with Lynn and hit 2 sixes to Khaleel Ahmad, who was playing his first match of the IPL 2018. Both took KKR to 87 before Nitish Rana got run out after scoring 22 off 16 balls.

KKR's middle order completely demolished by Rashid and Shakib. First Uthappa, who tried to reverse sweep against Rashid but missed out completely as the ball hit to the stumps. Skipper Karthik this time could not anything for his team as he was bowled out by Shakib in trying to cut the ball. Two balls later Rashid grabbed big fish as Lynn got out LBW. He made 48 off 36 balls.

Now, Andre Russell remained the only hope for KKR but he was caught out in slip by Shikhar Dhawan off Rashid Khan. With the wicket of Russell, KKR almost had lost the match.

When KKR lost all their hopes of winning this game, Shubhman Gill kept them in the race till the last over. But his innings was cut short by great bowling from SRH. He scored 30 off 20 balls.

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