IPL-Playoffs: All-round Rashid propels Hyderabad into final

Kolkata, May 25 - Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan starred with bat and ball to help Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) fix a date with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Sunday's final after beating Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 13 runs in the

Coming in to bat when Sunrisers were still below par on 134/6, Afghanistan's Rashid smoked two fours and four sixes to stitch together a 36-run unbroken 8th wicket stand off 11 balls with Bhuvneshwar (5 not out) as 50 runs came in the final three overs.

In the last over, Prasidh Krishna (0/56) conceded 24 runs with Rashid hitting a four and two sixes, his second one an exquisite flick over deep backward square leg.

Kuldeep had previously removed in-form batsmen Dhawan (34; 24b; 4x4, 1x6) and captain Williamson (3) to expose Sunrisers' weak middle order as the visitors clawed to 79/2 in 10 overs.

The left-arm spinner was then involved in a run out off his own bowling to get rid of Al Hasan (28; 24b; 4x4) -- playing in place of Manish Pandey -- in the 16th over to further dent Sunrisers' endeavour.

Mystery spinner Sunil Narine (1/24) and leggie Piyush Chawla (1/22) were also good in the middle overs to throw a spanner in the works of their rivals. The league leaders could never recover from there in the final few overs, until Rashid came to the party.

Brief scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 161/9 in 20 overs (Chris Lynn 48, Shubman Gill 30; Rashid Khan 3/19, Carlos Brathwaite 2/16, Sidharth Kaul 2/32) lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad 174/7 in 20 overs (Wriddhiman Saha 35, Shikhar Dhawan 34, Rashid Khan 34, Kuldeep Yadav 2/29).

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IANS