Bowlers, Not Batters, Lead Hyderabad to Playoffs

It did not take long for Sunrisers Hyderabad, the newest of the India Premier League's nine city-based franchises, to end up in the playoffs.

Sunrisers had to beat Kolkata Knight Riders, the already-eliminated 2012 champion, to seal the fourth and last I.P.L. playoff berth Sunday. In front of a delighted hometown crowd of 31,000, Sunrisers chased down a target of 136 to win in 20 six-ball overs with five wickets and seven deliveries to spare. They will now play the third-place Rajasthan Royals in an eliminator match Wednesday.

Sunrisers' success means that Royal Challengers Bangalore are eliminated despite their having two of the three highest-scoring batsmen in the competition â€" their captain, Virat Kohli, and the West Indian Chris Gayle, whose 720 runs made him the regular season's top run maker for the third consecutive season and included a single innings of 175 not out, a record for the Twenty20 format.

The triumph by Hyderabad, successor to the former Deccan Chargers franchise, was hailed by the team's mentor, Kris Srikkanth, formerly chief selector to the Indian national team, and a player on it before that.

“No one gave the Sunrisers a chance in this tournament,” said Srikkanth, likening the experience to playing in the Indian team that won the 1983 World Cup, even though no one thought it could. “But now we have qualified for the playoffs.”

None of Hyderabad's batsmen featured among the top 10 run scorers, but three of its bowlers were among the leading wicket-takers - the Indian spin bowler Amit Mishra took 20, the Sri Lankan all-rounder Thisara Perera (also a dangerous and hard-hitting batsman) took 19 and the South African paceman Dale Steyn grabbed 18.

“The team is built on teamwork and not individual performance,” said Srikkanth. “The core of the team has been the supportive nature of its members. Everyone backed each other through the ups and downs.”

Hyderabad will next take on a team currently facing turmoil. Rajasthan is the focus of potentially the greatest scandal to hit the I.P.L., with the arrest last week of three players - including Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, a fast bowler who has played 27 five-day test matches for the Indian national team - on spot-fixing charges. The allegations center on three of Rajasthan's I.P.L. matches this season. The charges allege that matches were not thrown, but that bowlers ensured a minimum number of runs were to be conceded during certain six-ball overs.

The pressures of coping with the fall-out have fallen on Rajasthan's 40-year-old player-coach Rahul Dravid, generally regarded as the straightest shooter in cricket.

“Our players are devastated that our performances may have been affected, as they have a desire to win that has been evident throughout the tournament,” Dravid said last Thursday when news of the arrests broke. “ For me, as a captain and leader, I have to focus on ensuring the team fulfill their enormous potential and continue to play in the Rajasthan Royals way.”

Rajasthan did not cope that well in its only match since the news broke, falling by 23 runs to the Sunrisers - one of the results that helped the Hyderabad franchise seal its playoff place - on Friday.

But it has an undoubted rising star in the Australian all-rounder James Faulkner, who took five wickets against Hyderabad to take his total to a tournament-leading 26. His $400,000 contract, which looked speculative for a franchise that traditionally does not spend a lot, now appears to have been a bargain.

“Playing under Rahul Dravid has been brilliant,” said Faulkner, 23, who will be part of the Australian national team during its Ashes tour of England this summer.

The loser of the Hyderabad-Rajasthan match is out of the tournament. On Tuesday, the first-place team, Chennai Super Kings, and the second-place team, Mumbai Indians, will face off in their own playoff match, with the winner moving straight to the final Sunday. The loser will play either Hyderabad or Rajasthan on Friday for the other spot in the final.

Chennai, which won in 2010 and 2011 and is the I.P.L.'s only two-time winner, is the closest the competition has to a perennial power. Mumbai has been a consistent contender in recent years, but it has yet to take the title.

Chennai topped the standings, but only one first-place team - Rajasthan in 2008 - has gone on to take the title in the I.P.L.'s previous five seasons. Mumbai won both regular season meetings and is driven by the desire to give the hometown hero Sachin Tendulkar the only achievement he is lacking from his stupendous career.

I will stick with my preseason prediction of a Mumbai victory, but the one rule of five previous years of I.P.L. playoffs is that any outcome, even victory for the troubled Royals, is possible.

A version of this article appeared in print on May 21, 2013, in The International Herald Tribune.