A Rajasthan Royals fan, donning the team jersey was spotted crying as they were on the verge of losing the Qualifier 2 against the SunRisers Hyderabad at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The picture of the same went viral on social media as the cameras focussed on her for a long time.
The spin duo of Shahbaz Ahmed and Abhishek Sharma exploited the pitch perfectly, spinning a web around the Royals batters. The pair shared 5 wickets between them, jolting the Royals batters from which they could never recover from to chase down 176. Dhruv Jurel fought a lone battle as his unbeaten 56 went in vain, with the SunRisers booking a place in the final with a 39-run victory.
"We are expecting some dew" - Sanju Samson
Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson admitted that they didn't expect the pitch to behave so differently in the 2nd innings as the SRH spinners' deliveries stopped on the same. The right-hander felt the Royals could have used some reverse sweeps to unsettle the spinners, elaborating:
"It 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, the ball started turning a bit, they used that advantage really well. They bowled their spin in the middle overs against our right-handed batsmen, that's where they were one-up against us. Against their left-arm spin, when the ball was stopping, we could have tried a bit more reverse-sweep or maybe use of the crease a bit more."
The SunRisers and Knight Riders will lock horns in the final on Sunday in Chennai.
