The IPL group stage is designed to expose the weaknesses within a franchise. Across fourteen matches, fatigue, injuries, and the pressure of the points table separate the contenders from the rest.
For Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2022, the league stage was not a marathon.
It was a controlled campaign.
They moved across the country with a newly assembled squad that had been questioned by pundits for relying on young players and veterans released by other teams.
By the end of fourteen games, those doubts had disappeared.
They finished the league stage as Table Toppers.
Out of fourteen matches, they suffered only two losses.
The first was a final-over defeat against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
The second came in their final game, a dead rubber in which Deva rested most of the primary bowling attack to ensure they were fresh for the playoffs.
The momentum carried them to Kolkata.
The City of Joy was hot and humid, the air heavy with the approaching monsoon. Eden Gardens loomed on the horizon, the stadium selected to host Qualifier 1.
The prize was enormous.
The winner would earn a direct place in the IPL Final in Ahmedabad.
The loser would have to survive Qualifier 2.
For Deva and his team, there was no interest in taking the longer route.
They wanted Ahmedabad tonight.
MATCH DAY: QUALIFIER 1
Eden Gardens was filled with noise and humidity.
More than sixty-five thousand fans packed the stands, the yellow and orange of Gujarat and Hyderabad scattered throughout the stadium.
The playoff atmosphere was already clear before the first ball.
Drums echoed around the ground.
Flags waved in the upper tiers.
Every boundary was greeted with a roar before the ball had even reached the rope.
In the center of the pitch, Siddanth Deva stood opposite Hardik Pandya, captain of the Gujarat Titans.
The Titans had finished second in the tournament, led by the form of Shubman Gill and Rashid Khan.
The match referee flipped the coin.
"Tails," Hardik called.
The referee looked down.
"It is tails."
Hardik smiled.
"We're going to bowl first. The pitch looks hard, but with this humidity, the dew is going to come down heavily in the second innings. We want to know what we're chasing, and we back our batters to get it done."
Deva remained calm.
"We would have batted first anyway. In a playoff game, we want runs on the board and scoreboard pressure. The team is in a good mental space. We're ready."
The SRH Playing XI appeared on the broadcast.
Warner.
Abhishek.
Williamson.
Klaasen.
Deva.
Miller.
Sundar.
Chahal.
Bhuvneshwar.
Umran.
Natarajan.
David Warner and Abhishek Sharma walked out beneath the Eden Gardens floodlights.
Mohammed Shami took the new ball for Gujarat.
He hit his lengths immediately.
The first over was disciplined.
The second was tighter.
Gujarat were trying to establish control before the Sunrisers could build momentum.
But SRH had not come to survive.
Abhishek faced the third ball of Shami's next over.
Shami pitched slightly short of a length, angling across the left-hander.
Abhishek remembered the instruction from the training session.
He anchored his front foot, delayed the hip rotation, and drove through the ball.
It flew over extra cover.
Six.
The crowd exploded.
"What a way to announce yourself!" Harsha Bhogle called from the commentary box. "Shami has given him a little bit of width, and Abhishek Sharma has absolutely smoked that!"
Ian Smith laughed.
"That is not a shot from a player who has come here to be careful. He has seen the gap and gone straight through it."
Warner responded in the next over by taking on Alzarri Joseph.
A short ball was pulled through mid-wicket.
The next was dragged over square leg.
Gujarat's bowlers had barely settled before Hyderabad began moving the field.
By the end of the powerplay, SRH were 62 without loss.
The scoreboard flashed across the giant screen.
SRH 62/0 — 6 overs
Harsha leaned forward.
"That is exactly the start Siddanth Deva would have wanted. Sixty-two without losing a wicket in a playoff? Gujarat have a problem already."
Rashid Khan was introduced to slow the scoring.
The move worked.
His variation made it difficult for Warner to free his arms.
Eventually, Rashid produced the breakthrough.
A googly beat Warner's attempted sweep.
The ball struck him in front.
The finger went up.
Warner stood still for a moment before walking away.
David Warner lbw b Rashid Khan — 45
"Rashid Khan does it again!" Ian Smith exclaimed. "You can attack him, you can defend him, but eventually that change of direction finds you."
Kane Williamson joined Abhishek.
The partnership changed the rhythm of the innings.
Williamson played the anchor.
Abhishek continued to attack.
The scoreboard kept moving.
Singles turned into twos.
Twos became boundaries.
Every time Gujarat tried to tighten the field, Deva's batters found another gap.
Abhishek eventually reached his fifty.
He raised his bat toward the dressing room.
The SRH dugout applauded.
Hardik turned to his bowlers.
Gujarat needed the wicket.
It came soon after.
Abhishek attempted to clear the deep but did not get enough elevation.
The fielder settled underneath it.
Abhishek was gone for 58.
"That is a very important wicket for Gujarat," Harsha said. "They needed something to break this rhythm, because SRH were starting to dictate the tempo."
Heinrich Klaasen walked in during the 14th over.
He did not waste time.
Rahul Tewatia dropped one into his arc.
Klaasen smashed it over long-on.
Next ball.
Another six.
"Klaasen has arrived!"
The crowd erupted again.
Gujarat needed answers.
At 16.2 overs, SRH were 158 for 3 when Klaasen tried to clear long-on once more.
This time Alzaria completed the catch.
Klaasen walked back for a quickfire contribution.
The scoreboard displayed:
SRH 158/3
16.2 overs
The atmosphere changed.
Siddanth Deva walked out.
Harsha's voice rose.
"And here comes the captain!"
"The platform has been laid by the top order. Twenty-two deliveries remain, and Siddanth Deva walks out. There is no time to settle here. He has to attack from the first ball."
Ian Smith added,
"He is one of the most dangerous death-overs batsmen in the game. Gujarat still have Ferguson, Shami and Rashid. This is a serious contest."
Deva reached the crease and tapped his bat.
Predator's Focus engaged.
The roar of Eden Gardens faded from his attention.
His spatial awareness mapped the field.
Hardik had pushed his boundary riders deep on the leg side.
Mohammed Shami stood at the top of his mark.
17TH OVER: MOHAMMED SHAMI
Shami ran in.
142 kmph.
Yorker.
Deva stepped deep into his crease, dropped his wrists, opened the bat face and sliced the ball past short third.
Four.
"Perfectly played!" Harsha called. "That is pure awareness. He knew third man was inside the ring and simply used the pace."
The next delivery was a low full toss.
Deva cleared his front leg.
He launched it over long-off.
Six.
Eden Gardens erupted.
Shami looked back toward Hardik.
Hardik simply stared at the pitch.
The third ball was worked away for a single.
Deva had already made his presence felt.
18TH OVER: LOCKIE FERGUSON
Ferguson charged in.
The speed gun lit up.
152 kmph.
The ball was aimed at Deva's ribs.
Deva shuffled across his off-stump, dropped onto one knee and played a lap-sweep.
The ball flew over fine leg.
Six.
"Oh, that is outrageous!" Ian Smith roared. "He has just lap-swept a 152-kilometer-per-hour delivery for six!"
Harsha laughed.
"That is the kind of shot that makes bowlers question their career choices."
Ferguson tried a wide yorker.
Deva read it.
He changed his stance, opened the blade and reverse-scooped it over short third.
Another six.
The crowd had completely lost control.
Ferguson walked back to his mark shaking his head.
Deva took 22 runs from the over.
The scoreboard jumped.
SRH 188/3
Gujarat's fielders gathered around Hardik.
The captain pointed toward Rashid.
19TH OVER: RASHID KHAN
Hardik turned to his premier spinner.
Rashid had bowled to Deva countless times.
He knew the angles.
He knew the strengths.
He knew the weaknesses.
At least, he thought he did.
Rashid released a 98 kmph googly.
Deva activated Crab's Eye.
He picked the release immediately.
He waited deep.
Opened his hips.
And slog-swept the ball over mid-wicket.
Six.
"He saw that from the hand!" Harsha exclaimed.
Rashid walked back slowly.
The next delivery was faster and flatter.
Deva stepped down the pitch.
He met it cleanly.
The ball sailed over the sight-screen.
Another six.
"This is extraordinary batting!" Ian Smith shouted. "Rashid Khan is one of the best T20 spinners in the world, and Deva is treating him like a net bowler!"
Deva took 18 from the over.
The equation for the final over flashed onto the screen.
The Sunrisers were already beyond 200.
20TH OVER: MOHAMMED SHAMI
Hardik had little choice.
Shami returned for the final six balls.
The field spread across the boundary.
Four fielders watched the ropes from the leg side.
Three waited on the off side.
Shami began with a wide yorker.
Deva squeezed it toward deep point.
Two.
Second ball.
Shami missed his length and drifted onto the pads.
Deva flicked it over deep square leg.
Six.
"That has disappeared!" Harsha shouted.
The third ball was a slower bouncer.
Deva waited.
Then pulled it high into the stands.
Six again.
Shami walked back to his mark.
The Eden Gardens crowd could sense something special.
Fourth ball.
Full delivery outside off.
Deva reached for it and slashed backward of point.
Four.
Fifth ball.
Low full toss.
Deva cleared his front leg.
Long-on could only watch.
Six.
The final ball.
Shami finally nailed the yorker.
Deva dug it out.
They ran two.
The innings was over.
Deva stood in the center of the pitch and removed his helmet.
The crowd rose to its feet.
He had scored:
64 runs from 18 balls.
The Sunrisers Hyderabad finished on:
224 for 4.
Harsha Bhogle summed up the innings.
"If you're Gujarat, you will look at that total and say the top order played beautifully."
He paused.
"Then you'll look at the last three and a half overs and wonder what on earth just happened."
Ian Smith laughed.
"He faced eighteen balls. He scored sixty-four. That's not an innings. That's an ambush."
Deva walked off to applause, tapping gloves with Kane Williamson.
The first half of the plan was complete.
Now came the difficult part.
Defending 225.
Hardik Pandya and the Gujarat Titans came out aggressively.
Wriddhiman Saha and Shubman Gill opened.
Deva handed the new ball to Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Bhuvneshwar bowled a tight first over.
No width.
No easy runs.
Just discipline.
For the second over, Deva turned to Umran Malik.
"Pace," Deva commanded. "Hit the deck hard."
Umran nodded.
He ran in.
The speed gun flashed.
152 kmph.
The ball pitched on a hard length and climbed sharply.
Saha attempted a back-foot punch.
The extra bounce hurried him.
The ball took the splice and looped toward Kane Williamson.
Williamson settled underneath it.
Saha was gone.
"That's the breakthrough!" Harsha shouted. "Umran Malik has brought the heat, and Saha simply couldn't get himself into position!"
Umran's next over was even faster.
154 kmph.
A yorker.
Matthew Wade was beaten for pace.
The ball crashed into middle stump.
"Cleaned him up!" Ian Smith roared. "That is raw pace. There was nothing Wade could do."
Umran had removed two wickets in his opening spell.
The scoreboard showed:
GT 45/2 after 6 overs
The required rate was already climbing.
Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya tried to rebuild.
Gill found boundaries through timing.
Hardik attacked the ball whenever Deva gave him a fielding error to exploit.
The Sunrisers captain responded by turning to his spinners.
The "Kul-Cha" combination was activated.
Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav bowled in tandem.
Chahal attacked the stumps and used flight.
Kuldeep changed his pace and angle.
Gujarat struggled to maintain the required rate.
Twelve an over became thirteen.
Thirteen became fourteen.
Then came the mistake.
12TH OVER.
Gill stepped out against Kuldeep.
Kuldeep saw him coming.
He dragged the ball wider.
Heinrich Klaasen whipped off the bails.
The stumping was clean.
Gill was gone for 42.
"Kuldeep saw that coming!" Harsha said. "Gill wanted to change the tempo, but Kuldeep has been one step ahead."
Chahal struck in the next over.
David Miller went for a leg-break.
The ball caught the edge.
Abhishek Sharma completed the catch.
GT were 98 for 4.
The stadium started to believe the match was slipping away from Gujarat.
But Hardik Pandya was still there.
He refused to go quietly.
Marco Jansen came on in the 15th over.
Hardik took him apart.
Six.
Six.
Then a boundary.
The required rate dropped for the first time in several overs.
Rahul Tewatia joined him.
The crowd found its voice again.
The Gujarat dugout stood.
Harsha's tone changed.
"Now then. This partnership has suddenly brought Gujarat back into the contest."
Hardik reached fifty.
He raised his bat.
The Titans fans roared.
Deva stood near the boundary, watching.
He studied the field.
Studied Hardik.
Studied his bowlers.
Then he removed his cap and handed it to the umpire.
"And here comes the captain," Harsha said. "Hardik Pandya is on 55 and looking dangerous. Siddanth Deva has decided to break this partnership himself."
Deva marked his run-up.
The James Anderson template engaged.
Hardik shifted backward.
He expected the bouncer.
Deva ran in.
But instead of pace, he dragged his fingers across the seam.
The delivery came at 118 kmph.
Hardik swung early.
The ball dipped.
Grip.
Movement.
Gap between bat and pad.
Middle stump.
Gone.
For half a second, Eden Gardens fell silent.
Then the Sunrisers dugout erupted.
"BOWLED HIM!"
Deva turned toward his teammates.
"HOWZAT!" he roared.
Harsha almost shouted over the crowd.
"That is a captain's wicket!"
"Hardik was waiting for the short ball. Deva has taken all the pace off it, and Hardik has played completely through the shot!"
Hardik stood for a moment, staring at the broken stumps.
He knew exactly what had happened.
Deva had read him.
The over cost only three runs.
And it had produced the wicket that mattered most.
Without Hardik, Gujarat's required rate climbed close to eighteen an over.
T. Natarajan came on for the death overs.
Yorker after yorker.
He gave the batters nothing.
One wicket became two.
The Gujarat chase had collapsed.
On the final ball of the 19th over, Bhuvneshwar Kumar trapped Mohammed Shami LBW.
The umpire raised his finger.
Shami looked toward the dugout.
The Gujarat Titans were bowled out for 157.
The giant screen updated.
GUJARAT TITANS — 157 ALL OUT
SUNRISERS HYDERABAD WIN BY 67 RUNS
The SRH dugout exploded.
Players poured onto the field.
Abhishek jumped into Umran's arms.
Samad grabbed Chahal.
Warner sprinted across the outfield and wrapped both arms around Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Kane Williamson simply smiled.
The rebuild had worked.
The young players had grown.
The experienced core had held together.
And now the Sunrisers Hyderabad were heading to Ahmedabad.
They had secured their place in the IPL 2022 Final.
Deva stood near the edge of the pitch, watching his players celebrate.
For a moment, he did nothing.
He simply watched.
Then the post-match handshakes began.
Hardik Pandya walked over, wiped the sweat from his face and hugged Deva.
"You read me completely on that off-cutter, Sid," Hardik admitted. "I was waiting for the bouncer."
"You were looking dangerous, Hardik," Deva replied. "You almost got the momentum back. Rest up and win Qualifier 2. I want to see you in the Final."
"We'll be there," Hardik promised.
Shubman Gill approached next.
"I couldn't read Chahal at all tonight, skip. The flight was too deceptive."
"He bowled well," Deva nodded. "But you batted beautifully at the top. Don't drop your head. Regroup for the next game."
Finally, Rashid Khan approached.
"Sixty-four off eighteen balls, Sid bhai. You ruined my figures tonight. That sweep against my googly... I didn't think that was possible."
"I got lucky, Rashid," Deva chuckled. "You're still the best in the business."
Rashid smiled.
"Next time, no luck."
"We'll see."
The rivalry had lasted three hours.
The friendship remained.
As the presentation ended, Deva stayed on the outfield for a moment.
Eden Gardens was slowly emptying.
The floodlights remained on, shining over the pitch that had just witnessed a playoff demolition.
The chants were fading.
The players were disappearing into the tunnel.
Deva looked around the stadium one final time.
The plans had worked.
The young players had improved.
The experienced core had held together.
The table toppers had reached the final.
He looked toward the boundary.
Then toward his teammates.
Then finally toward the tunnel.
Ahmedabad was next.
The trophy was one match away.
Deva turned and walked inside.