Chennai Super Kings avenged the six-wicket defeat they were served at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium earlier this month, with a 78-run triumph over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 46th match of the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) season. Defending a total of 212 runs, Chennai’s brilliant bowling unit flexed their muscles of supremacy against Hyderabad’s power-packed batting contingent, bowling them out for a paltry 134.
As was the case in their previous defeat to Royal Challengers Bengaluru, top-order collapse haunted Hyderabad, as they lost both Travis Head and Anmolpreet Singh inside the first couple of overs, with the latter being dismissed on a golden duck on his maiden game of the season.
Both wickets were taken by Tushar Deshpande, who further improved his numbers and amplified Hyderabad’s troubles by getting Abhishek Sharma out in the fourth over. At 40/3, Aiden Markram and Nitish Kumar Reddy had no other option but to avoid shots which could result in more wickets.
The result was a 32-run partnership, but it came in five overs. Reddy’s woes ended in the ninth over when he lost his wicket to Ravindra Jadeja, and Markram – the only Sunrisers batters who got a move on, scoring 32 runs – became the first victim of Matheesha Pathirana in the 11th over.
There was another 32-run partnership, with Heinrich Klaasen and Abdul Samad being the collaborators on this occasion, but by then, the match was all but out of Hyderabad’s reach. When they needed to sprint, the visitors could only dodder to 134, as Deshpande completed his four-fer by getting Pat Cummins' wicket.
Gaikwad Scored 98 For CSK, Mitchell Got a Half-Century
Earlier, captain Ruturaj Gaikwad fell two runs short of becoming the second batter to hit back-to-back IPL centuries, while Daryl Mitchell got his maiden fifty in the tournament as Chennai Super Kings posted 212/3 against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Gaikwad was solid in hitting 10 fours and three sixes at a strike-rate of 181.48 in his 54-ball knock. Mitchell finally came good after a lean start to the tournament by smashing seven fours and a six in his 32-ball stay at the crease, apart from sharing a 107-run stand with Gaikwad.
Shivam Dube’s unbeaten 20-ball 39, laced with four sixes and a boundary was also helpful in CSK going past 200 on consecutive occasions. Pushed into batting first, CSK had a cautious start as they hit only two boundaries in 2.1 overs.
Ajinkya Rahane’s poor run continued as he miscued to mid-wicket off Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Gaikwad and Mitchell hit six boundaries between themselves in the rest of the Power-play as CSK ended the phase at 50/1.
Mitchell finally hit CSK’s first six of the innings by lofting Cummins over long-off for six, followed by Gaikwad getting his fifty in 27 balls pulling the pacer for a maximum over deep mid-wicket fence. Mitchell upped his scoring version by driving, slicing, paddling, lofting and scooping to get his fifty off 29 balls.
But Mitchell fell soon after, falling for 52 off 32 balls after hitting a full toss from Jaydev Unadkat straight to deep mid-wicket. Gaikwad went for hitting boundaries off slower deliveries and low-full tosses and got ample support from Shivam Dube, who smashed three sixes with his ferocious power and long levers.
But Gaikwad struggled to find timing in the fag end of his innings and miscued a loft to deep mid-wicket off Natarajan in the final over. A four for MS Dhoni and Dube flicking high over deep mid-wicket for six ensured CSK crossed 210, though they got only 20 runs in the last two overs.
(With inputs from IANS)
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