Sunrisers Hyderabad finally returned to winning ways and stopped the resurgence of Chennai Super Kings after defeating them quite convincingly by 6 wickets and with 9 deliveries to spare. It was a great bowling performance by Hyderabad to restrict the visitors to a below-par score of 132 runs in their allotted 20 overs. In the absence of MS Dhoni, it was a dodgy overall performance from Chennai.
The Turning Point of the match
There were a few turning points in the match. Earlier in the day, it was an exceptional spell of Rashid Khan which proved to be the difference. He bagged two crucial wickets of Suresh Raina and Kedar Jadhav to peg CSK back. He was supported quite brilliantly by the pace trio of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed and Sandeep Sharma. They didn’t pick too many wickets but was pretty economical.
In the 2nd half, it was again the opening partnership between David Warner and Jonny Bairstow which took SRH within touching distance of the target. David Warner smashed 25 balls 50 and shared a match-winning stand with Bairstow. The English man eventually finished off the match for SRH with 19 deliveries to spare.
Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Chennai Super Kings- 2nd innings
Chasing a below par total, Sunrisers Hyderabad got off to the perfect start courtesy opening duo David Warner and Jonny Bairstow. Ahead of this match, it was Bairstow who looked the attacking partner. However today it was a different tale. Realizing David Warner was timing the ball brilliantly, Jonny Bairstow took his time to get going and allowed Warner to go for the big shots.
The southpaw has been the leading run scorer in the tournament so far and he carried n his form with a sensational half-century which came in just 24 deliveries. He smashed Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur all around the park before Deepak Chahar’s slower delivery bamboozled Warner. Despite the fall of Watson’s wicket, Bairstow now took the onus on himself and started taking on the CSK bowlers.
Imran Tahir was the only bright spot for Chennai. The 40-year-old continued his impressive run in the tournament and finished with impressive figures of 2/20 in his 4 overs spell. Despite his spell, it was a relatively easy task for Hyderabad. Bairstow eventually remained unbeaten on 61 of 44 deliveries to see his team through.
Scorecard:
Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Chennai Super Kings- 1st innings
Chennai Super Kings was resting their regular skipper MS Dhoni due to back spasm which hurt him against KKR. Suresh Raina was leading in his absence and he decided to bat after he won the coin toss. It was a strange decision given the fact that most of the franchises have batted 2nd in the IPL. It was openers Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis who began proceedings.
It was a cautious approach shown by both the openers. After playing out the first 4 overs with singles and doubles, Watson and du Plessis started getting after the SRH bowlers. They looked in great touch and struck some excellent shots in the process. They picked the run rate up and raced of to a partnership of 79 runs in the 10th over.
It was Shahbaz Nadeem who provided the maiden breakthrough for the hosts. The fall of Watson triggered a collapse as Chennai lost all the momentum and kept losing wickets on a consistent basis. Vijay Shankar bagged the wicket of du Plessis and from there on it was a very difficult task for Chennai to press on the accelerator.
Rashid Khan yet again bowled a sensational spell and bagged two crucial wickets for 17 runs in his 4 overs spell. Sam Billings who was playing in his first match failed to trouble the scorers. Consistent wickets eventually restricted CSK’s run flow as they could eventually make 132/5 in 20 overs. Ambati Rayudu remained unbeaten on 25 of 21 deliveries.
Scorecard:
