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Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) assistant coach Simon Helmot lauded captain Pat Cummins for thinking on his feet and bringing on the spin pairing of Abhishek Sharma and Shahbaz Ahmed against Rajasthan Royals in the second qualifier in Chennai on Friday.
“I think he decided at the time where he felt, given the conditions, we could use Shahbaz Ahmed. There were two right-handers in and he felt the unorthodox spinner would be a good option to work one end. And the Abhishek [Sharma] one, I haven’t asked Pat this but I dare say it may have been a gut feeling, and if that’s the case, what a wonderful decision it was because it certainly changed the complexion of the game,” Helmot said at the post-match press conference.
With Sunrisers defending 176 runs, Shahbaz and Abhishek prised out five wickets between them and orchestrated Rajasthan’s slump from 65 for one to 92 for six, which proved crucial in restricting it to 139 runs.
SRH enjoyed the rub of the green too with dew causing minimal impact in the second innings. The lack of moisture allowed the ball to grip off the surface, compounding the woes for Rajasthan’s batters. But Helmot said that the management had been anticipating a lack of dew.
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“We’ve had enough evidence here and it was a lot drier out there today. I think there’s been some rain around. It was windy in the warm-up. So, we know when there’s cloud, there’s been rain around, there’s less chance of dew. We were not concerned that we were batting first,” Helmot said.
Shahbaz was decisive with the bat too. In the first innings, he was brought in as an Impact Player to support Heinrich Klaasen after Sunrisers was reeling at 120 for six after 14 overs. His run-a-ball 18 in a 43-run alliance with Klaasen swelled the team’s total which eventually made the difference.
Explaining the call, Helmot said, “We probably had lost too many wickets, so we needed a batter to come in and we knew how skilled Shahbaz is with the ball as well. So we were getting a multi-skilled player in that position. We needed to get another partnership or two at the back end to try and get a competitive total and he helped us out with that. And obviously what he did with the ball was fantastic. That was brilliant. He’s had his best day for the Sunrisers today.”
The win meant Sunrisers qualified for the final for the third time in its history, and the first time in six seasons. Elaborating upon Cummins’ man-management that has helped the side turn its fortunes after finishing last the previous season, Helmot said, “He’s a practical guy, very humble, very empathetic with his fellow teammates and coaching staff. He’s into the statistics, he gets the information he needs against a particular opposition in certain conditions.
“He doesn’t waste time in meetings. We think our team meeting today went for 35 seconds, but a lot of information has already been spoken about. There’s a lot of one-on-one conversations, there’s a lot of one-on-one discussions. I suppose we try to limit the large group meetings, but we still have them and we need them.”
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