Chennai Super Kings scripted a perfect comeback in the Indian Premier League by defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad by 8 wickets in the final match of IPL 2018 on Sunday.
Shane Watson got back to his brutal best to single-handedly chase down a target of 179 runs posted by Sunrisers. Watson scored a blistering 117 runs, the highest-ever total in the history of IPL finals, in 57 balls which comprised of 11 boundaries and 8 sixes.
Chasing 179, CSK were restricted in the early part of the innings courtesy the bowling excellence of Sandeep Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Shane Watson could not get off the mark in the first 10 deliveries that he faced. Losing Faf Du Plessis (10) early in the innings, Suresh Raina (32) and the Australian southpaw stitched a partnership of 117 runs to stabilize the chase. CSK looked rather dangerous after the 10th over, when Watson tore into Sandeep Sharma’s over blasting him for 27 runs. The men in yellow comfortably chased the target down, with Ambati Rayudu hitting the winning runs.
Earlier put into bat first, Yusuf Pathan’s late 45* from 25 balls along with captain Kane’s 47 helped SRH put a decent 178/6. SRH lost crucial wickets in the middle overs that never let any partnership flourish, Yusuf Pathan along with Carlos Brathwaite (21) added 34 runs in the last 3 overs to take their side to 178.
This is Chennai Super Kings 3rd title in the Indian Premier league.
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