Shahbaz Ahmed, RCB's loss and SRH's gain

In a match between Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad, it was probably the Royal Challengers Bengaluru management and their fans kicking themselves watching the end overs of SRH's innings.

They must have been ecstatic in the first half of it, hoping SRH would eclipse the 287-run mark and they would not have the embarrassing feat of conceding the highest total in IPL history against their name. For a significant part of the innings, 300 was practically achievable.

But the second half came with a pinch of salt when Shahbaz Ahmed stretched Hyderabad’s score to 266, scoring 59 not out from 29 deliveries, including five sixes. 

In the trading window before the season, RCB swapped left-arm spin-bowling all-rounders with SRH — replacing Shahbaz with Mayank Dagar in a trade deal. It was one of the most random trades in the brief history of IPL’s trading windows. Even if they felt Shahbaz wasn’t adding much value to their side, in Dagar, they got a player with only three matches in his IPL career, not facing any deliveries and picking only one wicket. Meanwhile, Shahbaz had done well with the bat for them in one season. 

They were probably looking for a wicket-taking spinner in Dagar, but his T20 career average of 24.8 doesn’t instill much confidence in that regard either. And Shahbaz’s batting value was a big loss. 

In Match 35, Shahbaz denied DC a comeback opportunity in a runfest. After a record-breaking start, Hyderabad had lost 33/4 within four overs after the field restrictions were lifted. Their blazing top four — Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen — were back in the hut. Delhi had a chance to keep their opponents under 250 and the spinners had their tails up. SRH had conceded over 240-plus twice in this season. 

Shahbaz added 67 from 47 balls for the fifth wicket with Nitish Reddy. The duo absorbed the pressure against the remaining overs of the DC spinners. 

After Nitish’s dismissal, Hyderabad scored 45 runs in three overs. Shahbaz contributed 30 of them from only nine deliveries.

Before this game, Shahbaz had a strike rate of 141.8 against seam-up bowlers in his T20 career. Against spin, it was only 92.4. He is a pace hitter who waited for the moment until Delhi had to dish out three overs of pace at the end. He clubbed three sixes on the on-side, dashing SRH to the fourth-highest score in IPL. The left-hander also brought up his maiden IPL fifty. 

His knocks proved critical in the end. DC had a powerful start. The latest IPL sensation, Jake Fraser-McGurk blasted 65 off only 18 balls by almost playing the same shot over and over again. With 11 overs left, Delhi had razed off half the target. 

Due to Shahbaz’s finish, however, the asking rate was still over 12. Hyderabad still had the bandwidth to choke the capitals. It came at the right time as DC were bowled out for 199. But if the finish line was set anywhere under 250, Delhi would have taken the game deep without panicking the way they did. This knock was also the point of difference towards the end result. 

RCB let go of Shahbaz after only one bad season with the bat. The Bengal all-rounder averaged 10.5 across six innings in IPL 2023. In 2024, RCB are a contender for the wooden spoon after 35 games in the season. Their bowling seems to be in an irreparable state. The problem is their batting has been hit-and-miss so far, not matching the level required to compensate for their shallow bowling. They could have used someone like Shahbaz.

RCB’s loss is SRH’s gain. In the previous game, Abdul Samad’s 10-ball 37 provided them the deciding edge. This time, Shahbaz has done the job of providing impetus at the end. It serves Hyderabad’s purpose of creating a barbaric batting unit of T20 swashbucklers from start to end.

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