SRH finally get a much-needed win

Mumbai: For both, hosts Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), Friday was the best chance to pull themselves out of the rut they found themselves in. The two southern teams are languishing at the bottom of the IPL points table, at No 10 and 9 respectively.

But to the disappointment of the home fans, CSK faltered to deceive and saw their fortress at the M A Chidambaram being breached by SRH for the first time ever. It was CSK’s fourth defeat at home in five games as they failed to defend a total of 154/5.

In the low-scoring game, SRH were well served by their sixth-wicket pair of Kamindu Mendis (32* off 22 balls) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (19 off 13b). Joining forces with the score on 106/5 after 14 overs, the two took the team home.

To the relief of the SRH faithful, Ishan Kishan also hit form by setting up the platform for the chase with a 34-ball 44. His knock helped his side recover from a nervous 54/3.

CSK have tried everything, shuffling the batting order, bringing in new players but nothing has worked. On Friday, they dished out another insipid batting performance. Playing like novices rather than the five-time champions that they are, they crumbled to 154 all out.

Everybody thought SRH would have no trouble chasing down 155, but the game soon had the makings of a low-scoring thriller.

Their chase didn’t begin well. At the end of the sixth over, SRH were 37/2, having lost both their openers, Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head. In-form pacer Khaleel Ahmed got Abhishek off the second ball of the innings and Anshul Kamboj bowled a good three-over spell of 3-0-16-1, picking up Head in the last over of the Powerplay.

Heinrich Klaasen was SRH’s best hope after that. With 281 runs at an average of 40.14 and a strike-rate of 159.65, he has been their only consistent batter. Their move to promote him to No 4 also backfired as he became the third wicket to fall at the total of 54.

Kishan finally seemed to find his form and took SRH to 69/3 in 10 overs, getting to 33 (26b, 5x4). Along with Aniket Varma, he kept them in hunt with 14 and 11 runs in the 10th and 11th overs.

The game kept swinging like a pendulum though. Off the last ball of the 12th over, Ishan (44 off 34 balls) was caught at deep mid-wicket by Sam Curran trying to hit Noor Ahmad to make it 90/4. After 15 overs, SRH were 114/5, needing 41 off 30 balls. Mendis and Reddy, however, held their nerves to take the side home.

While nothing worked for the home side in batting, SRH captain Pat Cummins would be pleased that all his bowling picks performed on the day. Cummins himself led the way with a splendid bowling show of 4-0-21-2. Harshal Patel and Jaydev Unadkat used their variations well to pick up four and two wickets respectively.

Cummins was the standout bowler. When young opener Ayush Mhatre put his bowlers under pressure early in the innings, the Australian fast bowler provided his team with the crucial breakthrough.

Preying on the teenager’s aggression, Cummins slipped a much fuller delivery than what he was putting away at ease. Mhatre’s eyes lit up looking at the trajectory of the ball but he didn’t have the right length to gain the elevation needed to hit over Kishan at mid-off.

Having huffed and puffed their way to reach 127/6 after 15 overs, CSK’s hopes of getting to a challenging total depended on making the most of the final five overs of the innings.

Cummins, though, was unrelenting. Bowling in tandem with Harshal Patel, the slog overs proved to be a tough period as CSK didn’t know from where their next boundary would come from. The SRH skipper bowled the 16th over for just three runs to Dhoni and Deepak Hooda and had figures of 3-0-18-1 at that stage.

In the 17th over, Harshal backed him with a three-run and a wicket over. In a fine follow-up, the SRH captain bowled the 18th for just four runs while picking a wicket to finish with 4-0-21-2.