Pat Cummins was gracious enough to credit head coach Daniel Vettori for SRH’s Impact Player master-stroke in their IPL 2024 Qualifier 2 win over Rajasthan in Chennai on Friday, May 24. Reeling at 120 for 6, SunRisers were desperate to bring in an extra batter to make sure they got to a competitive total and roped in all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed ahead of leg-spinner Mayank Markande. The decision worked in their favour as Shahbaz chipped in with a crucial run-a-ball 18 and picked 3 wickets to help SunRisers seal a place in the final.
Shahbaz added a 43-run stand with half-centurion Heinrich Klaasen as SunRisers recovered from `120 for 6 to post 175 on the board in their quota of 20 overs. And with the ball, the Bengal all-rounder picked up 3 wickets for just 23 runs. Shahbaz’s scalps included the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal and R Ashwin as Rajasthan choked again spin and lost by 36 runs. Dhruv Jurel was the only man who hit a fifty for Rajasthan, but it was not enough as SunRisers controlled the flow of the game. Along with Shahbaz, young Abhishek Sharma also chipped in with the ball and picked up 2 wickets in his four-over spell.
“Dan Vettori, left-arm orthodox and wanted as many left-arm orthodox as possible,” Pat Cummins said when asked who made the call to send Shahbaz Ahmed as the Impact Player.
“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 knew we had a chance,” Cummins added, heaping praise on Abhishek.
