SCOREBOARD
him, but not before doing substantial damage.
Travis Head (31) and Aiden Markram (50, 36b, 4x4, 1x6) then did not take their foot off the pedal as they made short work of the Chennai bowlers to take their team past 100 in the ninth over.
Though the defending champion fought back with three quick wickets, SRH was well ahead by then and got over the line with 11 balls to spare to get its second win.
Earlier, the Super Kings batters struggled for rhythm and played out 39 dot balls as Pat Cummins, Jaydev Unadkat, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar kept a tight leash on scoring.
Only Shivam Dube infused some life into his side’s batting effort with a quickfire 45 (24b, 2x4, 4x6). Dube got going by hitting Shahbaz for a six and four.
In the next over, he took on leggie Mayank Markande, clubbing him through covers for a four before a slogswept six over square leg.
He then hit leftarm pacer T. Natarajan for consecutive sixes over the leg side.
But once Cummins got Dube with a slow bouncer, caught at point, the boundaries dried as CSK managed only 38 off the last five and slumped to its second defeat of the season.
CHENNAI SUPER KINGS
Rachin Ravindra c Markram b Bhuvneshwar 12 (9b, 2x4),
Ruturaj Gaikwad c Samad b Shahbaz 26 (21b, 3x4, 1x6),
Ajinkya Rahane c Markande b Unadkat 35 (30b, 2x4, 1x6),
Shivam Dube c Bhuvneshwar b Cummins 45 (24b, 2x4, 4x6),
Ravindra Jadeja (not out) 31
(23b, 4x4), Daryl Mitchell c Samad b Natarajan 13 (11b, 1x4), M.S. Dhoni (not out) 1 (2b); Extras (lb1, w1): 2; Total (for five wkts. in 20 overs): 165.
FALL OF WICKETS
125 (Ravindra, 3.1 overs), 254 (Ruturaj, 7.1), 3119 (Dube, 13.4), 4127 (Rahane, 14.6), 5160 (Mitchell, 19.3).
SUNRISERS BOWLING
Abhishek 1070, Bhuvneshwar 40281, Natarajan 40391, Cummins 40291, Markande 20210, Shahbaz 10111, Unadkat 40291.
SUNRISERS HYDERABAD
Impact Player in place of Natarajan)
b Theekshana 31 (24b, 3x4, 1x6),
Abhishek Sharma c Jadeja b Deepak Chahar 37 ( 12b, 3x4, 4x6),
Aiden Markram lbw b Moeen 50 ( 36b, 4x4, 1x6), Shahbaz Ahmed lbw b Moeen 18 ( 19b, 1x6),
Heinrich Klaasen (not out) 10 ( 11b, 1x4), Nitish Kumar Reddy (not out) 14 ( 8b, 1x4, 1x6); Extras (b3, lb1, w1, nb1): 6; Total (for four wkts. in 18.1 overs): 166.
FALL OF WICKETS
146 (Abhishek, 2.4), 2106 (Head, 9.4), 3132 (Markram, 13.6), 4141 (Shahbaz, 15.4).
SUPER KINGS BOWLING
Impact Player in place of Dube) 10270, Theekshana 40271, Deshpande 20200, Jadeja 40300, Moeen 30232, Ravindra 1030.
Toss: SRH; PoM: Abhishek.
SRH won by six wickets with 11 balls to spare.
The hugely popular franchise has gone for a slight name change this season, but there has not been much of a change when it comes to the tradition of disappointing its fans, in the early stage of this IPL. Royal Challengers Bengaluru must be desperate to give their loyal supporters something to cheer about and put their campaign back on track when it takes on a confident Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Saturday.
Sanju Samson’s men have won all their three games so far. That they have done it without their formidable opening duo of Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal making much of a contribution says a lot about the way they have performed thus far.
The captain himself has had a couple of disappointing knocks after his unbeaten 82 against Lucknow Super Giants in the opening match. But Riyan Parag’s consistency has made up for the lack of runs at the top of the order.
Promoted to No. 4, he has been a revelation with scores of 43, 54 n.o. and 84 n.o. The bowling attack, in the form of Trent Boult, Nandre Burger, Yuzvendra Chahal, R. Ashwin and Avesh Khan, has been sharp, too.
The visitors, on the other hand, have to come up with improved shows with both bat and ball. Virat Kohli has scored 203 runs, with a couple of fifties, but the other batters, including skipper Faf du Plessis, need to deliver. More is also expected from the bowlers, especially the likes of Mohammed Siraj.