Chennai Super Kings bowlers braved a rousing start from Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Saturday. But their batters messed up a relatively favourable situation as the Sunrisers chipped away with wickets at crucial phases to register a 10-run victory at home.
Put into bat, a 15-ball half-century from Abhishek Sharma (59 off 22 balls) helped the Sunrisers race to 75/0 towards the end of Powerplay. But left-arm quick Mukesh Choudhary picked up Abhishek's opening partner Travis Head and stand-in skipper Ishan Kishan off successive deliveries in the last two balls of the sixth over to give CSK some momentum.
Jamie Overton built on that, accounting for Abhishek soon after. And despite Heinrich Klaasen's 59 off 39 balls, the Sunrisers couldn't go past 200, finishing at 194/9. While Overton starred again with three wickets, Anshul Kamboj picked up Klaasen before taking two lower-order wickets.
In the run chase, all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy jolted CSK in his first over, inducing a mishit off Sanju Samson. But CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ayush Mhatre helped the Super Kings motor to 66/1 in the fifth over.
The Sunrisers needed something special then, and Klaasen took a superb catch at extra cover to send back Mhatre, giving Nitish his second wicket. Sri Lanka's Eshan Malinga then took over. Gaikwad gifted Eshan his first wicket with a poorly executed pull shot, before Sarfaraz Khan, in spite of the hard work he had put in during the fourth-wicket stand with Matthew Short, threw it away.
Eshan had his third in Short when Aniket Varma took a blinder at deep mid-wicket.
Duo hold nerves
The start wasn't good at all for Sunrisers' young quicks Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain, heroes of their last win over Rajasthan Royals. But they bucked up in the death overs, leading to smiles in the Sunrisers camp.
The Super Kings banked on Shivam Dube and Overton to take them home following Dewald Brevis' departure for nought. But on the fifth ball of the 17th over, Sakib tailed one just a bit to clean Dube up, landing CSK a massive blow.
Hinge had 18 to defend in the final over. But despite a no-ball, he held his nerve to concede only seven with the wicket of Overton, as CSK only managed 184/8.
