Sunrisers Dominated CSK To 6 Wickets Victory In TATA IPL Match Up
Sunrisers Hyderabad readied themselves for the conditions ahead of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) On a black-soil pitch and easily won their second straight game at home in the TATA IPL 2024.
With 11 balls left, Sunrisers easily reached their target after shackling CSK on a slow pitch.
Chennai Super Kings 165 for 5 (Dube 45, Rahane 35, Bhuvneshwar 1-28, Cummins 1-29) were defeated by Sunrisers Hyderabad 166 for 4 (Markram 50, Abhishek 37, Head 31, Moeen 2-23) by six wickets.
A depleted CSK team lost to their second straight away loss on the road without Mustafizur Rahman, who had gone to Bangladesh to arrange his US visa for the forthcoming T20 World Cup, and Matheesha Pathirana, who is dealing with a niggle.
Hyderabad used a red-soil field last week, which resulted in a match that saw a score of 277 for 3 against 246 for 5. The Sunrisers seamers took advantage of the slower pitch on Friday by bowling cutter after cutter into it. Sunrisers hammered 78 for 1 in just the powerplay after Pat Cummins and Co. restricted CSK to 165 for 5. Abhishek Sharma hammered 37 of those runs off of just 12 balls.
In addition to scoring 30 runs less during their powerplay, CSK’s batting attack was shut down during the slog overs. With six wickets down and over two overs remaining, the Sunrisers were able to complete their chase, with Aiden Markram scoring a brilliant fifty off just 36 balls.
Dube Fireworks Continues
In the fourth over, Bhuvneshwar Kumar removed Rachin Ravindra for 12 off nine balls. After Ruturaj Gaikwad made a slow start, the left-arm fingerspinner Shahbaz Ahmed had him sliding a catch to long-on for 26 off 21 balls.
During the powerplay, Ajinkya Rahane smashed boundaries off the bat for Bhuvneshwar and Cummins, but as the ball grew softer and the field spread out in the middle overs, he found it difficult to get it away.
However, Shivam Dube started to crack against spin right away. He hit the third ball he faced, a leg-spinner named Shahbaz, for six, and made twenty-five off his opening ten balls, both from Shahbaz and Mayank Markande.
Dube also set up T Natarajan, who was making a comeback from injury, for a pair of sixes prior to being halted by Cummins on 45 balls out of 24. In order to prevent Dube from swinging, the Sunrisers captain disguised a slower short ball, forcing him to pop a catch to backward point.
Also Read: CSK Wins 2023 IPL Final to Crown Joint 5 Times Champions
SRH Subdues CSK
Only 50 runs could be scored by CSK in their final seven overs. Unadkat, Natarajan, and Cummins continued to pick up speed off the ball. The heavy hitters for CSK were unable to create any momentum for themselves that evening.
Mitchell was dismissed by an on-pace Natarajan ball that stopped in the pitch, while Rahane was undone by a slower delivery that traveled at 105 km/h. It was merely an anomaly when Ravindra Jadeja smacked four off a cutter from Unadkat traveling at 111 km/h down the track.
With just three balls remaining in CSK’s innings, the decibel levels shot through the roof when MS Dhoni, rather than Moeen Ali, stepped out to bat at No. 7. But he was only able to hit one out of every two balls.
Abhishek And Travis Head Show At The Powerplay
Sunrisers maximized the powerplay, knowing that the pitch would slow down even more later in the evening with the target in front of them.
In the powerplay, Sunrisers tried to knock sixteen balls to the boundary. However, during that session, CSK had only attempted to knock eight balls to the boundary.
Staying leg-side of the ball, Travis Head managed to go through to the off side of Deepak Chahar and Tushar Deshpande. At the end, he scored 31 off 24 balls. If Moeen hadn’t dropped him at slip, he might have been out for 0 in the opening over.
Despite facing fewer balls than Head, Abhishek made a greater impact, hitting 37 at a strike rate of 308.33. Left-arm seamer Mukesh Choudhary, who bowled like he was playing his first competitive match since December 2022, gave up 27 of those runs in the opening over.
Markram led the chase with a half-century after Head and Abhishek left. With the old ball, Moeen got Shahbaz (18) and Markram (50) leg before wicket, but it was too late for CSK. In the powerplay, Sunrisers had already caused irreversible harm.
Abhishek Sharma’s Powerplay Strategy and SRH’s Win Against CSK
Abhishek Sharma, the Player of the Match in Sunrisers Hyderabad’s thrilling win against Chennai Super Kings, attributed his explosive performance in the powerplay to strategic observations about the Hyderabad pitch. He noted the wicket’s tendency to slow down as the ball aged, prompting him to adopt an aggressive approach early on.
Sharma’s blistering 37 off 12 balls, including a memorable powerplay bash, set the tone for SRH’s chase. His insights into the pitch conditions proved invaluable as he capitalized on the initial overs before the wicket became more challenging for quick scoring.
Aiden Markram, who contributed significantly with a composed 36-ball 50 after Sharma’s departure, echoed the team’s sentiment about the pitch dynamics. He emphasized the importance of seizing opportunities in the powerplay, a strategy increasingly favored by teams for its potential impact on the game’s outcome.
The encounter highlighted the strategic prowess of SRH’s bowlers as well, with Pat Cummins mentioning their effective use of offcutters to contain CSK’s scoring rate in the latter overs. This tactical acumen, coupled with disciplined bowling in the death overs, restricted CSK’s total despite a solid start.
Overall, Sharma’s powerplay onslaught and SRH’s astute game management in both bowling and batting laid the foundation for their victory. The match underscored the significance of adaptability and strategic planning in navigating challenging pitch conditions, a key aspect of success in high-stakes IPL encounters.
