Sam Curran, CSK’s all-rounder, was surprised at CSK’s team management’s decision to promote him as an opener but admitted that he enjoyed the role of an opener as he scored 31 off only 21 balls as CSK defeated SunRisers Hyderabad by 20 runs.
They were defeated by SRH by seven runs in the first half and so, it was a sweet revenge of sorts for Chennai Super Kings after David Warner led SunRisers Hyderabad failed to chase 168. They finished on 147/8 after CSK scored 167/6 in the stipulated 20 overs.
Sam Curran: Surprised To Open But Enjoyed It
Shane Watson top-scored for CSK with 42 and Ambati Rayudu too contributed with 41 as SRH bowlers baring Sandeep Sharma who had figures of 2/19 in four overs were too expensive. Particularly Khaleel Ahmed and T Natarajan picked two wickets each but had an economy rate of 10 per over. In reply, SRH batsmen failed apart from Kane Williamson who scored 57 as Karn Sharma, and Dwayne Bravo picked up two wickets each.
“Yeah, very good win. Obviously, we needed a couple of wins to get the tournament going. I was surprised to get at the top of the order but really enjoyed it, I got the team off to a good start and most importantly, a good win,” Curran told Dwayne Bravo in a video posted on iplt20.com.
“It was good to bat at the top of the order, we have struggled initially to get some momentum but it came right against SunRisers Hyderabad. I am just trying to contribute with both bat and ball,” he added.
Sam Curran was good with the ball too picking up skipper David Warner’s wicket who was caught and bowled by Sam Curran as he returned with figures of 1/18 in three overs.
Ravindra Jadeja Receive MOM
Ravindra Jadeja who scored an unbeaten 25 off 10 balls picked up Jonny Bairstow’s wicket and took two catches of Priyam Garg and Vijay Shankar to receive Man of the Match award. He had figures of 1/21 in three overs. Shardul Thakur was economical too as he returned with figures of 1/10 in overs.
Karn Sharma had figures of 2/37 in four overs, and Dwayne Bravo had figures of 2/25 in 3 overs, and Piyush Chawla and Deepak Chahar went wicketless.
CSK have now won three and lost as many as five in eight matches bagging six points while SRH have the same win-loss ratio but are one step ahead in terms of better Net Run Rate. CSK are at 6th spot while SRH are at 5th spot.