MUMBAI: When Sunrisers Hyderabad’s batting flopped in the slog overs to finish on a total of 194/9 on a good batting strip at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, it looked like they had frittered away a great chance to register a win over Chennai Super Kings on Saturday.
The poor finish to the innings stood out more because of the start they were provided by Abhishek Sharma (59/22b) in an electrifying opening partnership of 75 in 5.5 overs with Travis Head.
But a superb bowling performance by Nitish Kumar Reddy (4-0-31-2), Eshan Malinga (4-0-29-3) and Sakib Hussain (4-0-32-1) helped SRH defend their total for a 10-run win. Left-arm spinner Shivang Kumar provided good support with a spell of 3-0-18-1.
Reddy and Malinga shared the top five wickets and Sakib Hussain bowled well under pressure at the death, picking the big wicket of Shivam Dube. CSK needed 18 runs of the last over with three wickets in hand, but Praful Hinge conceded only seven runs. It was a good comeback for Hinge who had been taken to the cleaners (39 runs) in his first two overs.
In their chase, CSK lost their star batter Sanju Samson early. On the first ball of the second over, Nitish Reddy rushed Samson with a back of a length ball, and got him caught off a top-edge.
However, runs leaked from the other end.
SRH’s rookie pacer Hinge, who created a stir against RR in the previous game by picking up three wickets in the first over, was hit for three boundaries in the opening over this time.
His second over, the third of the innings, also didn’t go well with Ayush Mhatre (30/13b) hitting him for 24 runs (a six and three fours). With the other rookie pacer, Sakib Hussain, also going for 13 runs in his first over, CSK raced to 60/1 off four overs.
A hamstring injury to Mhatre while running the second run on the second ball of the fifth over gave the hosts an opening to come back into the game. Two balls later, Mhatre was caught at extra cover where Klassen pulled off a stunner. Captain Ruturaj Gaikwad also fell immediately, gloving Eshan Malinga’s first ball to the keeper down the leg-side. It was 66/3 after 5.1 overs and SRH were back in the game.
With Matthew Short and Sarfaraz Khan threading a fourth wicket partnership, CSK were well placed in the chase, being 111/3 at the half-way mark, an equation of 84 off 60 balls.
Malinga bowled an excellent 11th over by claiming the wicket of Sarfaraz at the cost of just one run. Shivang Kumar tightened the screws by taking out Dewald Brevis for a duck. From 84 off 60 balls, it was now 80 off 48 balls with five wickets in hand. The spirited SRH bowlers kept chipping away for a successful and satisfying outing. It was SRH’s third win of the tournament.
Brief scores: SRH 194/9 (A Sharma 59, H Klaasen 59, M Choudhary 2/21, Anshul Kamboj 3/22, J Overton 3/37). CSK 184/8 (M Short 34, N Reddy 2/31, E Malinga 3/29. SRH won by 10 runs.
