In a thriller game that was fought out at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Friday, Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Chennai Super Kings by five wickets to achieve a hard-won win after a rollercoaster ride that had them at 106/5.
Kamindu Mendis (32*) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (19*) fought hard from their side to push SRH to 155. The victory pushed SRH from ninth position to seventh position on the table, and CSK's chances of progressing are slim, having won only two games out of their nine.
SRH's chase of 155 also started on the wrong note when Shardul Thakur returned Abhishek Sharma (0) off the second ball of the innings. Travis Head (19) again was unable to find his customary run-scoring groove and was dismissed by Anshul Kamboj. Heinrich Klaasen added to SRH's woes when he tried a loose shot, looking to clear long-on but finding Deepak Hooda deep in the infield.
Ishan Kishan (44) grabbed one end, with Aniket Verma by his side for a winning 36-run stand. The duo batted relentlessly against the CSK bowlers, with two sixes hit by Verma, and Kishan chugging along making runs. Kishan attacked the bowling in a belligerent way after smashing six off Noor Ahmad, losing his wicket. In a desperate bid to play for shots, he was caught by Sam Curran, who managed to pouch the catch after a tough tumble.
Ahmad continued to hit again to give hope to CSK while Aniket, who had already scored 12 off the over, attempted to play hard and was caught by Hooda at long-off. Reddy and Mendis, despite mounting pressure, worked in harmony in an opener-changing 49-run first-wicket partnership as SRH won its first match against CSK in this stadium.
Earlier, in the first innings, Ayush Mhatre once again performed well with a good show, taking Pat Cummins, Mohammed Shami, and Jaydev Unadkat for six boundaries in the powerplay. Although Shaik Rasheed and Sam Curran were seen off early, Mhatre assisted SRH with a good start. However, his good knock was left incomplete as he got caught by Ishan Kishan at mid-off off Cummins' full-length delivery.
Brevis and Ravindra Jadeja both tried their level best to leave CSK's innings in safe hands. Jadeja, who had also hit a six off Zeeshan Ansari, lost his wicket when Mendis bowled him a slider that remained low and shattered his stumps. Brevis, however, initiated CSK's innings by hitting three of his sixes off Mendis in an interesting 12th over. He was replaced soon by Patel in the next over, and Shivam Dube also followed him soon, caught by Sharma off Unadkat.
CSK lower order let down as Mahendra Singh Dhoni (6), Anshul Kamboj, Noor Ahmad (2), and Khaleel Ahmed (1*) could not contribute much to the score. Deepak Hooda, however, did some late fireworks with 22 from the last two overs, a six and a four, before being caught with one ball remaining. CSK were bowled out for 154 in 19.5 overs.
Brief scores:
Chennai Super Kings: 154 all out in 19.5 overs (Dewald Brevis 42, Ayush Mhatre 30; Harshal Patel 4-28, Pat Cummins 2-21, Jaydev Unadkat 2-21)
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 155/5 in 18.4 overs (Ishan Kishan 44, Kamindu Mendis 32; Noor Ahmad 2-42, Anshul Kamboj 1-1)
Sunrisers Hyderabad won by five wickets.
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