NEW DELHI: Captain
Ruturaj Gaikwad
's aggressive 98, paired with a precise bowling performance led by pacer
Tushar Deshpande
, guided the Chennai Super Kings to a 78-run victory over the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League on Sunday.
After being invited to bat, Gaikwad's impressive 54-ball innings powered CSK to a formidable 212 for three. He was supported by
Daryl Mitchell
's return to form, contributing a key 52 off 32 balls, while
Shivam Dube
added an unbeaten 39 off 20 balls to push CSK past the 200 mark.
In response, SRH's overly cautious batting approach failed once again as they couldn't recover from Deshpande's (4/27 in 3 overs) early three-wicket burst and the subsequent pressure in the middle overs, ultimately being bowled out for 134 in 18.5 overs. This win ended CSK's two-game losing streak.
With the victory, CSK climbed to third place with 10 points, the same as the Kolkata Knight Riders, Lucknow Super Giants, and Delhi Capitals. SRH, also with 10 points, fell to fourth after their fourth loss.
Chasing 213 to win, Travis Head (13) and Abhishek Sharma (15) made rapid starts but Deshpande got rid of the former with a slower wide ball and then returned to remove impact sub Anmolpreet Singh with an outswinger on the stumps as the batter went for a golden duck.
Abhishek was next caught at deep point as Deshpande broke their back, leaving SRH at 40 for 3 in the fourth over.
Nitish Reddy (15) and Aiden Markram (32) tried to steady the ship but Ravindra Jadeja bamboozled the former with a bouncer, while Matheesha Pathirana produced a superb yorker to uproot the middle stump of the South African.
At 85-5 in 10.5 overs, Heinrich Klaasen and Abdul Samad joined hands but runs were tough to come by as the bowlers executed their plans to perfectly.
While Jadeja completed a superb spell of 4-0-22-1, Shardul Thakur kept bowling at wide outside off to frustrate the batters as CSK conceded just two boundaries in nine overs after the powerplay.
With an improbable 104 needed off 30 balls, Klaasen, Samad, Pat Cummins and Shahbaz Ahmed all holed out as Mitchell claimed five catches in the outfield during the match.
Earlier, Gaikwad missed out on a successive hundred by a whisker but his 107-run stand with Mitchell was the cornerstone of CSK's innings. It is CSK's 35th 200-plus total, the most by any side in T20 cricket.
Gaikwad was the star of the CSK batting as he hit 10 fours and three sixes in his innings.
Opening the innings, Ajinkya Rahane (9) perished early again with Bhuvneshwar Kumar earning his prized wicket in the third over but Gaikwad kept CSK going. The skipper did not back down and attacked the bowlers at will as the hosts ended the powerplay at 50 for one.
In no time, the 27-year-old Gaikwad brought up his 17th IPL half-century off just 27 deliveries.
Gaikwad and Mitchell batted sensibly as they managed to keep the boundaries coming, with the latter chipping in periodically too after a slow start (12 off 11).
With dew setting in the 12th over, the batting duo tried to take advantage of it as Mitchell soon brought up his maiden IPL 50 off 29 deliveries in the 13th over.
But the New Zealander failed to get going for too long and perished in the following over to Jaydev Unadkat after depositing a full-toss into the hands of Nitish Kumar Reddy in the deep mid-wicket.
In-form Shivam Dube then joined Gaikwad and the two decided to up the ante. SRH skipper Pat Cummins was targeted by the batters, having been dispatched for 49 in his four overs.
Gaikwad looked set to back-to-back tons but the heat and humidity of Chennai seemed to affect him as his vigil ended with a tired-looking shot as T Natarajan sent him back in the final over.
Crowd-favourite MS Dhoni scored five off two deliveries that included a four, while Dube deposited a full toss in the stands as the final four overs yielded 53 runs.
(With inputs from PTI)
English (US) ·