Chahal vs Klaasen face-off huge in deciding SRH vs RR Qualifier 2: ‘Knowing Yuzi, he is just...’

Sunrisers Hyderabad will take on Rajasthan Royals in the Qualifier 2 of IPL 2024 on Friday, for a place in the final. SRH finished in second position in the league phase, but then lost to Kolkata Knight Riders in Qualifier 1. Meanwhile, RR ended their league campaign in third, and then beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Eliminator. The winner in Qualifier 2, will take on KKR in the IPL 2024 final.

Both sides faced each other only once this season and it was a run-fest as SRH sealed a narrow one-run win. Chasing 202, RR were restricted to 200/7 in 20 overs, despite half-centuries from Riyan Parag (77) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (67). Meanwhile, Bhuvneshwar Kumar took three wickets for RR.

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Initially, half-centuries from Nitish Kumar Reddy (76*) and Travis Head (58*) took SRH 201/3 in 20 overs. For RR's bowling department, Avesh Khan took two wickets.

Going into Qualifier 2, one interesting face-off will be between SRH wicketkeeper-batter Heinrich Klaasen and RR spinner Yuzvendra Chahal. Against SRH in the league phase, Chahal had a poor spell, returning with figures of 0/62. Meanwhile, Klaasen smacked an unbeaten knock of 42 off 19 balls, packed with three fours and three sixes.

Speaking on ESPNcricinfo, former India cricketer Varun Aaron analysed the face-off between Chahal and Klaasen, and also had some special advice for the RR star. "It's an interesting one. I think Yuzi will want to redeem himself after the last game they played against each other. I think he went for 62 in his four overs. He is generally not used to going for so many runs, and he will have to comeback from that," he said.

"Knowing Yuzi, he is just going to go wide to Klaasen, wide slow. One thing we have been talking about Yuzi is that he is not turning the ball enough. He will look to turn the ball to Klaasen. If he is going to bowl flat or full, which is what he has been doing, Klaasen is going to smack him. So he is going to have to resort to Chahal of the first half of the IPL, bring those parts back and actually turn the ball a little. The Chepauk might be the ideal place to start turning the ball," he further added.

In IPL 2024, Chahal is sixth in the Purple Cap race with 18 wickets in 14 matches. Meanwhile, Klaasen has registered 413 run in 14 matches, at a strike rate of 180.34.