Chennai end two-match losing streak, keep semis hopes alive with Hyderabad romp

Mohammad Abdullah, Staff Reporter

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) avenged their loss in the first match with a comprehensive 20-run victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad in their Indian Premier League (IPL) clash on Tuesday.

Riding on Ravindra Jadeja’s all-round performance Chennai posted a competitive total of 167/6 and restricted Hyderabad to a 147/8 in their allotted 20 overs.

With a much-needed win, not only did Chennai keep their play-off hopes alive but also blew the playoff battle wide open. They inflicted the second successive defeat on Hyderabad, who were beaten by Rajasthan Royals by five wickets in their last match.

Chennai, who came into the match on the back of two defeats, moved to the sixth spot in the eight-team league with six points, having won three of their eight matches.

Hyderabad got off to a wobbling start in their chase and lost the wicket of captain David Warner with just 25 runs on the board. Sam Curran caught him off his own bowling. Manish Pandey was found short of his crease before Jadeja uprooted the stumps of Jonny Bairstow (23) to make it 59-3.

Kane Williamson and Priyam Garg showed some resistance with a 40-run partnership for the fourth wicket to keep them in the hunt.

But after the dismissal of Garg, Hyderabad kept on losing the wickets at regular intervals and failed to get the partnerships going.

Williamson waged a lone battle with a gritty knock of 39-ball 57, but he did not find any support from the other end. He hit 7 boundaries before Karn Sharma got rid of him to all but end the hopes of Hyderabad. Bravo picked up two wickets to complete the formalities.

Earlier, Chennai, who got the chance to bat first for the first time in the tournament, were off to a wobbling start. They lost the wicket of opener Faf du Plessi (0) with just 10 runs on the board.

Du Plessis was caught by Bairstow behind the stumps when he snicked a Sandeep Sharma delivery that took a sharp turn and took the South African by surprise, who failed to remove his bat from the line of the ball. Sam Curran scored a quick-fire 21-ball 31 before Sandeep struck again to rattle his stumps and make it 35-2.  Shane Watson and Ambati Rayudu began the damage control with a gritty partnership to set the tone for a big total.

Both the batsmen played cautiously and kept the scoreboard moving with a din here and dab there, hitting occasional boundaries to spur the run rate.

They added 81 runs for the third wicket to pull their team out of the rot after a stuttering start and took the score to 116-2 in 15.2 overs.

Khalil Ahmed got rid of Rayudu, who hit a 34-ball 41 with the help of three fours and two sixes to bring Hyderabad back into the game. In the next over, Natrajan had Watson caught by Pandey as Chennai lost two wickets in quick succession. But Jadeja smashed a blitzkrieg cameo of 10-ball 25 to propel the score to a competitive 167/6. His innings was studded with three fours and one over the top. Dhoni also chipped in with a vital 21 off 13 balls.