David Warner and Manish Pandey scored half-centuries for SRH, but Warner got stuck in the middle and couldn’t get going. It was Kane Williamson’s 10-ball 26 that took SRH to 171/3. However, it was an under-par score and the CSK openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis smashed fifties to guide CSK to their fifth win.
CSK are on a roll and seem unstoppable at the moment. Once again, they were in top gear as they brushed aside the SRH challenge with ease. They strolled through their run-chase of 172 and recorded their fifth consecutive win to move to the top of the points table.
SRH just haven’t been able to get going in this tournament. Be it with the bat or with the ball. The 2016 IPL champions have lacked the firepower to go through. It’s not that there is not enough personnel in the SRH line-up, but the big names just aren’t turning up well.
David Warner won the toss in this game and opted to bat first. His reason for the same was “because we haven’t done it yet“. Dew was always going to play a part, and maybe SRH didn’t take that into account. They needed to get a few runs more than the par score, but they well at least 15-20 runs short.
They didn’t have the best of powerplays. Jonny Bairstow, who was dropped in the first over by MS Dhoni behind the stumps, couldn’t make full use of his chance. He picked the only fielder out in the deep on the leg-side as Sam Curran bounced him out.
Manish Pandey struck a couple of boundaries in back to back overs to end the powerplay, but SRH could only get 39 in the powerplay. Warner was very subdued and just crawled his way to 19 off 23 balls at the six-over mark. Pandey was ten off eight at that stage.
Post the powerplay, Pandey was ticking along nicely and was even finding the odd boundary here and there. However, Warner got stuck in the middle overs as he was in the powerplay. Pandey reached fifty in 35 balls, and when he got there, Warner was batting on 39 off 44 balls and had scored just two boundaries by then.
The SRH skipper did try upping the run rate with a couple of sixes in consecutive overs while Pandey got stuck at the other end, scoring just 11 runs off his last 11 deliveries. Ngidi returned and dismissed both set batters in the 18th, and at 138/3, SRH was at risk of finishing well under 160.
However, Kane Williamson batted beautifully and plundered 20 runs off the Shardul Thakur in the 19th over before Kedar Jadhav hit a four and six to finish the innings in the 20th. Those last two overs, which saw 33 runs being scored, pushed SRH to 171/3, which was an under-par score.
They desperately needed some early wickets to put pressure on the CSK batting line-up, but that did not happen as the SRH bowling attack lacked bite. Faf du Plessis once again got off to a flying start while Ruturaj Gaikwad consolidated in the powerplay.
CSK raced away to 50 without losing any wickets in the powerplay, and it was du Plessis who was once again the aggressor. He smashed 32 runs in 19 balls as Gaikwad took time to settle down and reached 17 off 17 at the end of the six-over mark.
Post the powerplay, it was the regular template for CSK as Gaikwad took charge and upped the ante. Du Plessis didn’t slow down either, as the CSK openers picked up pace beautifully even after the field spread out. They took the attack to the SRH bowlers and smashed them all around the Ferozshah Kotla. The South African notched up his third consecutive half-century of this season, and it came in 32 balls before Gaikwad reached his landmark as well. The latter got it in 36 balls, and it was his second fifty in the last three innings.
None of the SRH pacers looked like taking a wicket, and it was only Rashid Khan who brought some parity with a few wickets towards the end. The Afghanistan leg-spinner broke the 129-run opening as he knocked over Gaikwad. Moeen Ali had walked in and smashed three boundaries before Rashid dismissed him and du Plessis off successive balls to finish his spell with figures of 3/36.
Ravindra Jadeja and Suresh Raina wiped off the remaining runs with nine balls to spare. It gave CSK their fifth win of the season,and they once again move to the top of the points table.
Brief Scores
Sunrisers Hyderabad 171/3 (Pandey 61, Warner 57, Williamson 26*, Ngidi 2/35, Curran 1/30) lost to Chennai Super Kings 173/3 (Gaikwad 75, du Plessis 56, Rashid 3/36) by seven wickets
