Shahbaz Ahmed and Abhishek Sharma floor RR: Key bowling stats
Sunrisers Hyderabad turned to Shahbaz Ahmed and opening batter Abhishek Sharma for delights with the ball against Rajasthan Royals in Qualifier 2 of the Indian Premier League. The duo helped SRH bamboozle RR with some tidy spin bowling. SRH managed 175/9 before RR were restricted to 139/7 in 20 overs. Shahbaz led the way with a three-fer. Part-time spinner Abhishek impressed largely.
Five wickets and 47 runs from eight overs
Shahbaz managed 3/23 from his four overs. His economy rate was 5.80. Abhishek too got four overs and he picked two wickets and conceded 24 runs. The duo shared five wickets and conceded 47 runs from eight overs of spin. This did RR in as they never recovered and struggled on a slowish surface.
The two spinners get RR's big fishes
Yashasvi Jaiswal was going well before throwing his wicket away. Does this way too often. His eye lit up seeing Shahbaz and the decision to come down the track saw him offer a catch. Sanju Samson went back and tried to pull Abhishek but got out. Riyan Parag and R Ashwin were Shahbaz's next two victims. Abhishek castled the struggling Shimron Hetmyer.
Key bowling numbers
In 54 IPL games, Shahbaz owns 20 wickets at 40.75. In IPL 2024, he has six wickets at 41.33. Meanwhile, Abhishek has bowled only seven overs this season. Overall, he owns 11 IPL scalps at 35.36.
Shahbaz enters this list
As per Crizbuzz, best bowling figures for SRH in IPL playoffs: 3/19 - Bhuvneshwar Kumar vs KKR, Delhi, 2016; 3/19 - Rashid Khan vs KKR, Kolkata, 2018; 3/23 - Shahbaz Ahmed vs RR, Chennai, 2024*; 3/25 - Jason Holder vs RCB, Abu Dhabi, 2020.
