Chennai Super Kings shifted their lines during their batting innings and were then hit by a tornado named Abhishek Sharma, whose 37 off 12 balls put Sunrisers Hyderabad on course for their comfortable six-wicket win against the defending champions in an IPL match in the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Friday on Friday. The SRH bowlers were very disciplined as they restricted CSK to 165 for 5 in 20 overs, scoring only 37 in the last five overs. While 37 off the last five was a poor effort from CSK, young left-hander Abhishek, who is having a great tournament, also scored 37 but off just 12 deliveries with four sixes to lay the platform. Aiden Markram then anchored a run chase with a 36-ball 50 as SRH saw off the runs in just 18.1 overs.
His 60-run stand with opener Travis Head (31 off 24 balls) for the second wicket in seven overs after Abhishek hit a listless Mukesh Chaudhary, playing his first match, for 27 runs. The match as a match ended then and there with CSK losing two away games on the trot, while SRH have now won both their home games. CSK got a chance first but Moeen Ali dropped Head on Deepak Chahar’s second delivery.
Chaos then ensued as 23-year-old Abhishek hit two fours and three sixes off Mukesh, who was forcibly selected due to the absence of Mustafizur Rahaman, who has taken a one-match break to return home and file his US visa application . Playing his first competitive match after 16 months, Mukesh was all over the place in his only over and will warm up the benches again from the next match when Mustafizue returns.
There was no let up from the Abhishek as he also hammered ‘IPL specialist’ Chahar for a boundary and a six in the third over, but his pyrotechnics ended there as his shot from high was taken by a diving Jadeja.
Head and Markram consolidated the innings without taking too many risks, reaching 78 for 1 after six overs. SRH brought up their 100 runs in the ninth over as Markram hit a huge six off the bowling of Ravindra Jadeja in the ninth over.
Head, the Impact Sub for T Natarajan, was bowled out in the 10th over off Maheesh Theekshana, but not before adding 60 runs with Markram. The pressure had eased by then as SRH needed just 59 runs from the last 10 overs with eight wickets in hand.
Markram earned his first fifty of the season in the 14th over as CSK bowlers worked to get the wickets. But the South African batsman who captained SRH last season was similarly bowled out by compatriot Moeen Ali (2/23), who won an LBW review against SRH.
The Hyderabad side didn’t have to press the panic button as they needed just 34 runs from the last five overs. Moeen got his second wicket in the form of Shahbaz Ahmed (18), but Heinrich Klaasen (10 not out) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (14 not out) took SRH home.
Earlier, CSK batters failed to capitalize on their starts as they were restricted to a below-par 165 for 5.
The in-form Shivam Dube top-scored with a 24-ball 45, while veteran Ajinkya Rahane contributed a sedate 35 off 30 balls after CSK were asked to bat on a delivery that didn’t look like a proverbial belter. The duo’s 65-run partnership for the third wicket from just 6.3 overs was the sole highlight of the CSK innings.
CSK scored just 37 runs in the last five overs and that could be the turning point in the match.
But credit must be given to CSK’s season man Ravindra Jadeja, whose unbeaten 31 from 23 balls was the extra boost the defending champions needed in the end.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by WhatsNew2Day staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Topics mentioned in this article