HYDERABAD: Riding on a fine bowling effort that restricted Chennai Super Kings to 165/5, Sunrisers Hyderabad were well served by
Abhishek Sharma
’s 12-ball 37 (3x4, 4x6) and Aiden Markram’s half-century (50; 36b; 4x4, 1x6) as they notched up their second home win here on Friday.
In contrast to the CSK innings, when strokemaking was difficult, the hosts feasted on the CSK attack that looked clueless in the Powerplay.
SRH finished at 166/4 in 18.1 overs.
Abhishek, who notched up SRH’s fastest half-century at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium against MI, changed the complexion of the game by hitting impact player Mukesh Choudhary for 27 in the second over. He then hit Deepak Chahar for a six and a boundary before being dismissed.
Markram and Travis Head (31), who was dropped before he opened his account by Moeen Ali at first slip off Chahar, added 60 runs for the second wicket before he fell at 106 in the 10th over. By then, SRH needed less than run a ball. Markram and Shahbaz Ahmed fell to reverse sweeps but Heinrich Klaasen (10*) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (14*) ensured the hosts had no more hiccups.
Earlier, Sunrisers bowlers stuck to a plan — take pace off the ball. Bhuvneshwar Kumar struck in the fourth over by dismissing Rachin Ravindra (12). It was Bhuvneshwar’s first wicket of the season and he took 79 balls to get there.
Gaikwad tried to maximise the field restrictions, hitting Bhuvneshwar for a boundary and a six as Super Kings scored 48/1 in powerplay. The introduction of Shahbaz yielded immediate results as he dismissed Gaikwad, who failed to clear Abdul Samad at the long-on.
Shivam Dube smashed Shabaz for a six and boundary in the same over and welcomed Markande with a boundary and a six. He pulled Natarajan for consecutive sixes in the 12th over to take his side past 100 runs.
Dube dominated so much that in the 50 runs he added with Rahane, 43 were scored by him. When it looked like Dube would run away with the game, captain Cummins struck to end the 64-run stand. Trying to negotiate a short ball, Dube (45; 24b, 2x4, 4x6) ended up guiding it straight to Bhuvneshwar at point.
ALSO READ: How to watch IPL in USA
Jaydev Unadkat pegged the defending champions further back by sending Rahane (35; 30b, 4x4, 2x6) back to the pavilion.
Daryl Mitchell’s wicket in the 19th over’s third ball sent the decibel levels soaring with MS Dhoni coming into the middle. But there was no repeat of his Vizag show as Dhoni faced just two balls.
The Super Kings managed just 38 runs in the final five overs and Jadeja remained unbeaten on 31 (23b; 4x4).
English (US) ·