SRH’s perfect game hands Chennai fourth straight loss

Opener Abhishek hits 75 as Sunrisers beat defending champions CSK by eight wickets to register their first victory of the season

NAVI MUMBAI: In the worst-ever start to their Indian Premier League campaign, defending champions Chennai Super Kings crashed to their fourth straight defeat to the disappointment of the Saturday crowd that had made it to the DY Patil Stadium mainly to cheer the men in yellow.

On the other hand, after two losses, Sunrisers Hyderabad conjured up the perfect performance to open their account. Their bowlers did a terrific job to restrict CSK to 154/7, which they chased down with eight wickets in hand to inflict more misery on their southern rivals.

The champions were never able to break free despite building a decent platform. Defending a below-par total, CSK needed to strike early. But the bowling attack lacked penetration. The ploy to use spinner Maheesh Theekshana with the new ball also didn’t work. The off-spinner went wicketless (4-0-31-0) after bowling three overs in the powerplay. Opener Abhishek Sharma (75 off 50 balls), and Rahul Tripathi (39* off 15 balls) made it a cakewalk, reaching the target in 17.4 overs.

While it has been a nightmare for new skipper Ravindra Jadeja, Kane Williamson showed why he is so highly rated as captain. The New Zealand batter was in absolute control throughout, making moves like a chess master. The way he throttled CSK’s innings after the 13th over highlighted his good work.

After 13 overs, the teams were almost neck-to-neck, save the wickets. CSK were 97/2 while SRH reached the mark losing one wicket. When CSK analyse their defeat, they will look at this phase of play closely. With two set batters Ambati Rayudu (27) and Moeen Ali (48), it was the perfect time to switch gears and accelerate. Instead, they lost their No. 4 and No. 5 batters in the next two overs, which derailed their innings.

After Washington Sundar broke the partnership with the wicket of Rayudu, Williamson sneaked in an over from parttime offie Aiden Markram with two left-handers in—Shivam Dube having joined Moeen Ali. To his skipper’s delight, Markram got Ali’s wicket in the next over. CSK never recovered from the double blow.

T Natarajan was superb as well for SRH. He clean bowled opener Ruturaj Gaikwad with his first delivery, uprooting the middle-stump with a perfect inswinger, finishing with figures of 4-0-30-2.

SRH’s decision to give South African recruit Marco Jansen his debut also clicked. The left-arm pacer, coming into the eleven for Romario Shepherd, made an impressive start by removing MS Dhoni, who was caught going for a hook shot.

“Back of a length is the most difficult to play along with your change-ups; there wasn’t much swing for me, so I went the cross-seam route. Anyone will be happy to get Dhoni,” said Jansen in his interview during the mid-innings break.

On the other hand, SRH put behind the dismissal of Williamson in the 13th over to break free and race to victory; 13 runs in the 15th over brought the equation down to 34 off 30 balls with nine wickets in hand. From there, the set Sharma, batting on 71 off 43 balls, and Tripathi, on 17 off 7 balls), just needed to knock the ball around to take the team home. They made it a breeze with Tripathi dealing in boundaries.

CSK can take some heart from their past record. The only other time they lost four games in a row, in 2010, they recovered to win the title.

154/7 in 20 overs (M Ali 48; W Sundar 2/21) lost to 155/2 in 17.4 overs (A Sharma 75; D Bravo 1/29)

BCCI Abhishek Sharma made his first IPL half-century at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Saturday.