HEINRICH Klaasen blasted a 34-ball half-century as Sunrisers Hyderabad cruised into the final of the Indian Premier League with a comfortable 36-run win over Rajasthan Royals.
South African Klassen whacked four sixes as he helped the Sunrisers post 175-9 after Travis Head (34) and Rahul Tripathi (37) had earlier got them off to a fine start.
Shahbaz Ahmed then did the damage for the Sunrisers with the ball as he finished with an impressive 3-23.
Dhruv Jurel made 56 from 35 balls in vain for the Royals, who never got going in the chase on a tricky pitch and fell well short.
Sunrisers will play Kolkata Knight Riders in tomorrow’s final at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
The Knight Riders are two-time winners (2012 and 2014) while Sunrisers have won the title once just once – in 2016.
Royals had looked in the contest at the halfway point of the Qualifier 2 after a late burst from Avesh Khan (3-27) had stymied the Sunrisers’ innings.
New Zealander Trent Boult (3-45) had earlier taken three key wickets, including Aiden Markram on one run.
However, the match swung the way of the Sunrisers after the innings break when left-arm spinner Shahbaz removed the dangerous Yashasvi Jaiswal (42) and the in-form Riyan Parag (six).
Jaiswal’s dismissal saw the Royals slip from 65-1 to 79-5 and despite Jurel’s mature innings there was no way back from the collapse as they meandered to 139-7.
Royals missed Jos Buttler, who had joined up with the England squad for their T20 series against Pakistan. (BBC Sport).
