Image Credit- BCCI
Call them cautious, but the Chennai Super Kings have shown their strategy effective even though they were unable to hold 210 against the Lucknow Super Giants in their previous home game. Despite batting in wet conditions, the formidable Sunrisers Hyderabad’s losing run in Chennai—they have never defeated CSK at Chepauk—continued as they were thoroughly defeated.
In the first two overs, the CSK openers only attempted one boundary, but they steadily advanced, mainly because Gaikwad was a skilled gap-finder. CSK managed just 67 runs in the first eight overs, with Gaikwad scoring 44 off 25 with seven fours.
The previous match saw CSK go the first ten overs without a six. Here, they took the lead at the beginning of the ninth over when Daryl Mitchell, off-driving a slower ball over mid-off, welcomed Pat Cummins to the bowling crease. Gaikwad repeated the dosage in the same over to reach 51 off 27. Up until then, CSK’s other end—including extras—had only scored 31 off 27.
But Mitchell now became a part of the group and helped CSK continue while Gaikwad could only muster 10 off the next 10. Mitchell reached fifty off of 29 during that time before holing out to leave CSK at 126 for 3 in 13.3 overs.
Shivam Dube’s outstanding season persisted in spite of SRH’s solid defensive bowling. With four sixes and a four, he finished with 39 off 20. After Mitchell was out, Gaikwad got another wind and quickly took 29 off 10 balls. But by the end he was exhausted and was hitting everything incorrectly. The mishits continued to land safely, decreasing his strike percentage. Jaydev Unadkat bowled the 19th over, which produced no boundaries.
Travis Head got off to a boundary first ball and a six off the opening ball of the next over, in contrast to CSK. He was matched by Abhishek Sharma, who hit a six of his own. However, Deshpande returned with a slower, wider ball that Head could only hit as far as the off-side sweeper. Anmolpreet Singh, an impact player, was hit by a ball that shaped away and fell with the leading edge.
Deshpande had Abhishek caught by the sweeper on the off side once more in his subsequent over. Although Abhishek and Head haven’t exactly dominated without fielding opponents, they will feel a little let down that they each managed to get one of the two men out.
In contrast to the previous game, CSK’s fortunes altered in the middle overs. Especially with the dew, LSG refused to allow the CSK spinners to bowl in the previous game. At this point, Ravindra Jadeja started working. Bowling consecutively, he gave up just one boundary in his four overs. Together with Mustafizur Rahman, he was able to get precisely the right amount of surface grip. Before Matheesha Pathirana smashed the stump camera with a laser-guided middle-stump yorker to Aiden Markram, a disgruntled Nitish Reddy top-edged a short ball from Jadeja.
CSK were right. There wasn’t to be a repeat of a special chase as they closed out efficiently for a 78-run win.