Chahal sets his sights on challenging England tour

The opener hits unbeaten ton in win over SRH as CSK close in on play-offs

Pune, May 13: Opener Ambati Rayudu smashed his maiden century in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as Chennai Super Kings coasted to an easy eight-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad to virtually seal a play-offs berth here on Sunday.

Rayudu, who has been in great touch this season, remained not out on exactly 100 which he made from 62 balls with the help of seven fours and seven sixes as CSK chased down the target of 180 with one over to spare.

The 32-year-old Rayudu stitched a 134-run stand with senior partner Shane Watson (57) for the opening wicket to lay the foundation of the comprehensive win. Watson, also

one of 12 12 11 12 11 11 11 12 9 6 6 5 5 4 3 3 5 6 6 6 7 9 the centurions of this IPL, hit five fours and three sixes during his 35ball knock. Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni remained not out on 20 from 14 balls as CSK reached 180 for 2 from 19 overs. Rayudu carried his bat through the innings as he crossed 500 runs this season. He is on third spot among top run getters with 535, behind Sunrisers captain Kane Williamson (544) and Kings XI Punjab’s Lokesh Rahul (537). The win by former champions CSK also snapped Sunrisers sixmatch winning streak this season. The Sunrisers, who have already qualified for the play-offs, remained Sunrisers Hyderabad: S. Dhawan c Harbhajan Singh b Bravo 79, A. Hales c Raina b Chahar 2, K. Williamson c Bravo b Thakur 51, M. Pandey c Willey b Thakur 5, D. Hooda (not out) 21, Shakib Al Hasan (not out) 8. Extras (lb3, w10) 13. Total (for four wickets in 20 overs) 179. FoW: 1-18, 2-141, 3-141, 4-160. Bowling: Chahar 4-0-16-1, Thakur 4-0-32-2, Willey 20-24-0, Harbhajan 2-0-26-0, Watson 2-0-15-0, Bravo 4-0-39-1, Jadeja 2-0-24-0. Chennai Super Kings: S. Watson run out (Williamson/Goswami) 57, A. Rayudu (not out) 100, S. Raina c Williamson b Sandeep Sharma 2, M.S. Dhoni (not out) 20. Extras (w1) 1. Total (for two wickets in 19 overs) 180. FoW: 1-134, 2-137. Bowling: Sandeep 4-0-36-1, Bhuvneshwar 4-0-380, Rashid 4-0-25-0, Shakib 4-0-41-0, Kaul 3-0-40-0. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 +0.400 +0.383 -0.056 -0.189 +0.529 -0.484 -0.261 -0.478 18 16 12 12 10 10 8 6 on top of the table with 18 points from 12 matches while CSK are at second spot with 16 points from the same number of matches.

Rayudu and Watson gave scant respect to the Sunrisers bowlers, touted as the best in this IPL, as they were rarely troubled by the bowling attack which had the likes of India pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar and highly-rated Afghan leg-spinner Rashid Khan. Bhuvneshwar had another rare poor day in office, after the treatment he got from Delhi Daredevils’ Rishabh Pant, as he leaked 38 runs from his four overs without any success.

Rashid went wicketless and conceded 25 runs while Bangladeshi leftarm spinner Shakib Al Hasan was hit for 41 runs for no success. — PTI On Star Sports 1 & HD1 New Delhi, May 13: Legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal is focussed on making good use of the one-month break post IPL to sharpen his skill sets at the National Cricket Academy under Narendra Hirwani before embarking on India’s challenging tour of United Kingdom. Chahal has emerged as India’s frontline spinner in limited overs format alongside chinaman Kuldeep Yadav, post the Champions Trophy in June last year, taking over the mantle from R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. With 43 wickets from 23 ODIs and 35 scalps from 21 T20Is, Chahal is being seen as a vital cog in India’s World Cup campaign in UK next year. The 27-year-old doesn’t have the prior experience of playing in the UK but he has already planned how he will go about the task on his maiden tour in six weeks’ time.

“Before England, we are going to Ireland. The weather is expected to be the same as in England. I have a month left after IPL. I will go to NCA in Bengaluru for training. There I will have a chat with my coach, Hirwani Sir (former India leg-spinner),” Chahal said after RCB’s win over Delhi Daredevils in an IPL encounter.

“He (Hirwani) has also played earlier in the UK (for India as well as league cricket). So, I will ask him about the weather and conditions. India A team will also tour first and I have a lot of friends in that team. I will try and find out from them as to how helpful the pitches are and how the bounce is.”

The second season is very important for any player as Hardik Pandya’s late sparkling show with the bat steered Mumbai Indians to 168-6 against Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.

In reply, Rajasthan rode on Jos Buttler’s 53-ball 94 not out to finish with 171/3 in 18 overs, registering a comfortable seven-wicket victory.

With the race for the playoff spot heating up, the hosts grabbed their chances with both hands in a do-or-die encounter.

The task was certainly not going to be easy for Rajasthan at Mumbai’s fortress and more so against a side, who were seeking revenge after losing in the reverse fixture. Dropped catches

prove costly Visiting captain Ajinkya Rahane signified the importance of starting well during the power play and watching his side commit silly mistakes, particularly, at this stage, in his would only rub more salt wounds. Mumbai signaled oppositions prepare various strategies. Asked about how he would counter all the video analysis done of his bowling, he replied: “Just like they have videos of our games, we also have theirs.”

Chahal has not been as prolific in the ongoing IPL as he has been during past editions but he has been keeping things tight. He has picked up 10 wickets so far in 11

games with an economy rate of 7.57.

— PTI their intentions right away, battering Krishnappa Gowtham for 14 runs in the opening over. However, the scenario could have been completely different had it not been for some dropped catches. And they were made to pay the price. Gowtham was the first one to deny Rajasthan the breakthrough after Suryakumar Yadav played an early flick towards mid-on but the fielder fell inches short to cover ground. Moments later, a dolly slipped through the fingers of Stuart Binny who went reverse-cupped at long of after Evin Lewis miscued his lofted drive. The pressure took a toll and you could see it on the face of Shane Warne in the dugout. Later, during the death overs, Jofra Archer missed a sitter at point as Jaydev Unadkat deceived Ben Cutting with a slower delivery.