Sunrisers Hyderabad won by six wickets thanks to a brilliant bowling display in the final overs, Abhishek Sharma’s early blitz, and Aiden Markram’s half-century. At the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Uppal, they defeated the Chennai Super Kings by chasing down the 166-run goal with 11 balls remaining. They are now in fifth place in the points table after this victory.
A combative power play
Rachin Ravindra and Ruturaj Gaikwad gave the CSK innings a solid start, scoring 25 runs off the first three overs without taking many chances. On 11, Ravindra tried a rapid single, which may have resulted in a runout, but Aiden Markram’s direct attempt missed the stumps. That didn’t end up being too expensive, though, as the southpaw was ultimately removed in the following over after top-edging a length ball that angled away to Markram at mid-on. After a few balls, Bhuvneshwar had a chance to even account for Rahane’s out when the batsman received a leading edge that almost reached the bowler. However, later in the powerplay, Gaikwad attacked Pat Cummins and Bhuvneshwar to lead the team to 48 for 1.
Dube-Rahane’s position
Perhaps the best part of CSK’s day was when Ajinkya Rahane and Shivam Dube put on a 65-run partnership in just 39 balls. Following a solid start, Gaikwad gave way to the long fielder in the eighth over, leaving the Mumbai pair to carry the bulk of the workload through the middle overs. After assuming the role of the aggressor, Dube removed Mayank Markande in the ninth over, which resulted in 15 runs. Three overs later, he struck sixes over the deep mid-wicket area off T Natarajan’s next two deliveries. Eventually, he made a mistake by timing Cummins’ delayed delivery to rearward point. Still, he struck 45 off 24 balls, giving CSK’s innings the momentum they needed as they approached the final overs.
The following over saw Rahane, who was a great second fiddle for his partners, go as well, undone by the slower delivery of Jaydev Unadkat.
Smothering in the demise
The length-delivery strategy was utilized by the SRH pacers to capitalize on the track that was lagging a little. After Dube and Rahane were removed in rapid succession, the new batsmen, particularly Ravindra Jadeja, who battled to reach an undefeated thirty-one off twenty-three balls, found it difficult to adjust to the pitch’s pace. Daryl Mitchell (11-ball 13) and MS Dhoni (2-ball 1*) could not provide much help either, as CSK were only able to add 51 runs in the final seven overs and were eventually reduced to 165 for 5.
Winning the powerplay contest
Abhishek Sharma destroyed the CSK pacers on the powerplay, blunting the challenge before CSK could possibly make the chase more difficult. The southpaw took the match by storm in the second over, hitting two boundaries and three sixes off Mukesh Choudhary. After that, he pursued Chahar and gave him a boundary and a six. Abhishek’s 37 off 12 balls had started the chase, even though the pacer eventually got him out.
However, Travis Head had already launched the attack, hitting Deepak Chahar for a six in the opening over. With the second delivery of the innings, the pacer had the opportunity to dismiss the opener, but Moeen Ali made a catch at first slip. After Abhishek was dismissed, he slowed down a little bit, but he and Aiden Markram scored 12 runs in the final powerplay over to help SRH reach 78 for 1 before the field limitations were relaxed.
Markram keeps the chase moving.
By the end of the powerplay, almost half of the target had been pursued, thus SRH didn’t have to use more dangerous tactics. Conversely, CSK continued to experiment, using up to seven different strategies in an attempt to achieve some success. Even though they were able to reduce the pace of scoring, the spinners were unable to turn the tide of the match in the visitors’ favor. In the tenth over, Head swept a ball straight to the backward square leg fielder, giving Maheesh Theekshana a strike, but Markram made sure there was no panic. He was active in picking twos, worked the ball around gaps, and once went down the ground to hit Jadeja for a six. After reaching his half century off 35 balls, he was hit in the pads while trying to reverse sweep the office after bunting a Moeen Ali delivery down to long on for a single.
Any last-minute twists?
Not really.
However, following Markram’s demise, the SRH batsmen did face some pressure for a short while, particularly Shahbaz Ahmed who was moved up to number four. He was compelled to go for the big strokes after a series of dot deliveries. He did get a six, however, like Markram, Moeen trapped him legebfeore when he tried to reverse sweep.
Heinrich Klaasen, nevertheless, made sure there was no panic and led SRH to their second victory of the year.
Brief Scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 166/4 in 18.1 overs (Aiden Markram 50, Abhishek Sharma 37, Moeen Ali 2-23) defeated Chennai Super Kings 165/5 in 20 overs (Shivam Dube 45, Ajinkya Rahane 35, Shahbaz Ahmed 1-11) by 6 wickets.
