Gaikwad, Conway & Choudhary sink Sunrisers Hyderabad
CSK defend 202 to wrap up third win on Dhoni’s return to captaincy
RUTURAJ Gaikwad had a largely ordinary season so far, but against Sunrisers Hyderabad, he displayed strokeplay that has many excited about him to help Chennai Super ings win in MS Dhoni’s first match back as captain. This was Super ings’ third victory in nine IP games.
It was a classic Super ings innings a slow and steady start, consistent acceleration through the middle overs, and batters who get in going on to play big innings. Gaikwad fell one run short of a century, but opening partner Devon Conway scored an unbeaten 85 off 55 balls, and the two added 182 runs, the highest stand this IP . The defense of 202 wasn’t easy, with the absence of the injured Dwayne Bravo compounding their bowling woes, but Maheesh Theekshana and Ravindra Jadeja bowled for just a run a ball in their seven overs to help create wickets at the other end. Mukesh Choudhary starred for the defending champions, taking four wickets.Sunrisers eventually fell short by 1 , leaving them with 10 points from nine games, tied for fourth place with Royal Challengers Bangalore but with a game in hand.
The score of 40 for 0 at the end of the powerplay was typical of the Super ings. They prefer their top-order batters to take their time early in the game and then strike later. However, Conway was particularly slow in doing so, so Gaikwad had to be more assertive. After witnessing Marco Jansen’s meltdown at the death in their previous match,
ane Williamson bowled three of his overs inside the powerplay for just 19 runs.
It could be the same split webbing that caused Washington Sundar to injure himself while attempting to save a boundary. He hadn’t even begun bowling at the time, making ane Williamson’s decision to bring in a fifth bowler difficult.
As a result, Aiden Markram, with his part-time offspin, was brought in to fill in for Washington. They let him bowl the first over, but Gaikwad began the onslaught after the eighth. Umran Malik was up first, and his pace and hard lengths in the middle overs have given Sunrisers an advantage in this IP . Gaikwad, on the other hand, enjoys a good pace when he’s in it. He was properly in at 28 off 2 at the start of the eighth over.
Malik’s fastest ball of the tournament, bowled at 154kmph, returned just as quickly off Gaikwad’s bat and went between the stumps and the non-striker. The top edge was taken by a bounce for a four. Markram’s third went for two sixes off Gaikwad’s bat, but Williamson couldn’t do much about it. The highlight was Malik’s off-drive for a six over long-off. Super ings are 117 for 0 in 12 games.
Gaikwad took 1 off the eighth over by going over cover first and then over long-on. Conway gave Markram the same treatment in his second inning, finally getting past a run a ball.
Sunrisers had no choice but to come out with aggressive intent. It came off for the first few overs when Williamson got a free hit that he hit for a six, Abhishek Sharma got three boundaries off edges, was dropped once, and 46 came in the first three overs.
Mukesh Choudhary, who had dropped a sitter, his third drop this IP out of five catches that have gone to him, came back with the ball to have Abhishek caught at long-on and Rahul Tripathi ramping a short ball straight to short third man. That turned the powerplay Super ings’ way even though 58 came off it.
Williamson now went into the anchoring mode, hoping the batters at the other end would take them closer before he hit out again. Theekshana’s unpredictability and Ravindra Jadeja’s accuracy, though, slowed them down. When Markram tried to hit out against Mitchell Santner, his two sixes were followed up by a short ball pulled straight to deep midwicket.
BE C E Chennai u er ings 0 for 2 Gaikwad 99, Conway 85 , Natarajan 2-42 beat
unrisers yderabad 1 or Pooran 64 , Williamson 47, Abishek 9, Choudhary 4-46 by 1 runs