After years of hard work, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) made it to the finals of the IPL 2018 edition. SRH faced Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the final match of that season and eventually finished their IPL 2028 campaign as runners-up.

For the first time since 2018, SRH have sealed their place in the final on the back of a stellar performance this year. They will face two-time IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the final match of IPL 2024 on Sunday, May 26 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. While SRH will be looking to clinch their second IPL title, KKR will be eyeing to win the IPL trophy for the third time.

How was SRH’s last IPL final?

SRH last reached the IPL final in 2018. After facing defeat against CSK in Qualifier 1, they beat KKR in Qualifier 2 and reached the final. However, they suffered a crushing defeat in the final against CSK.

This match of IPL 2028 Final was played at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. CSK won the toss and decided to bowl first. SRH’s innings had a bad start as their opener Shreevats Goswami was run out after scoring 5 runs in the second over.

Top order batsmen Shikhar Dhawan and Kane Williamson took the game forward and made a crucial partnership. After that, this partnership of 51 runs was broken by Ravindra Jadeja and Dhawan was out after scoring 26 runs. Kane Williamson looked ready to play a big innings, but in the pursuit of a big shot, he was deceived by Karn Sharma’s ball and MS Dhoni made no mistake behind the wicket and stumped him out on a personal score of 47 runs.

Shakib Al Hasan and Carlos Brathwaite scored 23 and 21 runs respectively. Yusuf Pathan’s unbeaten 45 off 25 balls helped SRH finish their innings at 178/6. For CSK, all bowlers except Deepak Chahar took one wicket each.

Shane Watson’s century made CSK the winner of IPL 2018

CSK also had a bad start while chasing the target and their brilliant opener Faf du Plessis fell prey to SRH’s Sandeep Sharma. He could score only 16 runs in 11 balls and returned to the pavilion.

But after that, Shane Watson came into his element and ripped apart the opposition bowlers. After the initial setbacks, Watson and Suresh Raina put on a big partnership of 117 runs for the second wicket. Watson contributed 83 (33) runs for the first wicket and Raina contributed 32 (24).

After that, the team’s second wicket fell at a total score of 133 and Suresh Raina was out after scoring 32 runs. Watson did not let the team go under pressure and played an unbeaten innings of 117 runs in 57 balls to help the team win the IPL final.

Shane Watson’s brilliant century made the job easy for CSK and under Dhoni’s leadership, Chennai won their third IPL title and chased the target with nine balls to spare. Like CSK, SRH bowlers also could not do much and CSK won by eight wickets