Kolkata: Chennai Super Kings pulled out all stops to throw a spanner in the works of Sunrisers Hyderabad. However, Ishan Kishan scored a mature 47-ball 70 to anchor a tricky chase for a five-wicket win on a Chepauk surface that gripped, confirming the IPL playoffs berth for SRH on Monday.
Asked to chase 180, SRH started with a Powerplay score of 45/1—one of their slowest of the season—but Kishan and Heinrich Klaasen stayed put to slowly work their way through with a calculated partnership of 75 runs for the third wicket. Kishan didn’t stay till the end but he carted Mukesh Choudhary for a four and six in the 18th over to ensure a smooth finish for SRH. The 2016 winners finished on 181/5 in 19 overs.
It wasn’t without its share of hiccups though. Travis Head lasted five balls before Mukesh Choudhary induced a pull with a quick back of the length delivery that ended as a tepid toe-ended edge. Abhishek Sharma stayed true to his reputation and opened his account with a four but the slowness of the pitch soon caught up with him. He still managed a solitary six— slog-swept off Noor Ahmad—but apart from that Abhishek was forced to search for boundaries. He found three of those till Akeal Hosein got him caught at deep backward square leg.
The score read 56/2 when Klaasen came in, and while he did take some time to get his eye in, the South African batter quickly showed his intent by backing away and cutting Ahmad for four. Next over against Hosein, Klaasen reverse-swept for four before lofting over deep extra cover for a huge six. First ball of the 11th over, Klaasen was dropped off a tough chance but he shrugged off that scare with a six and four in the next three deliveries.
Quietly accumulating his runs, Kishan had to take charge of the chase once Klaasen was stumped brilliantly by Sanju Samson off Noor Ahmad in the 15th over. Hosein conceded just six runs in the next over, leaving SRH needing 38 off 24 balls. Anshul Kamboj was asking the right questions as usual but once Kishan hit a low full toss for four, SRH’s chase got a shot in the arm.
There can be some debate over whether 180 was a par score to challenge SRH, especially the way their innings was stagnating in the middle. But the Chepauk surface was gripping and the ball held up occasionally, making the timing of shots extremely difficult. Samson briefly cut through that uncertainty. Targeting anything overpitched, he injected early momentum in the Powerplay with a brisk 27 off 13 deliveries.
Samson’s dismissal—caught behind off Pat Cummins—broke that momentum and exposed the middle order to an unanticipated toil. Looking uncomfortable against the pace variations, Ruturaj Gaikwad was struggling to pierce the field or rotate the strike before being sent back by a short ball from Cummins. Gaikwad’s inability to find boundaries added to the pressure, and even though Urvil Patel threatened to shift gears with a couple of towering sixes, the slower balls proved to be his undoing.
Kartik Sharma scored 32 off just 19 balls to keep the innings moving during a tricky phase before Cummins again intervened, dismissing him with a short, back of the length ball. It was a phase skipper Cummins led through example, varying his pace and using the conditions brilliantly to disrupt partnerships.
But that changed with the entry of Dewald Brevis, who scored 44 off 27 balls. Adapting to the slow pitch by punishing the slower bouncers, Brevis added 59 runs with Shivam Dube for the fifth wicket. He fell for 44 in the 18th over, but by then he had already altered the complexion of the total. CSK added only 48 runs in the final five overs and never fully escaped Sunrisers’ grip. Yet, on a night when stroke-making remained difficult throughout, 180 felt less modest than substantial.
Brief scores: CSK 180/7 (D Brevis 44, P Cummins 3/28, S Hussain 2/34). SRH 181/5 in 19 overs (I Kishan 70, H Klaasen 47, M Choudhary 2/36). SRH won by 5 wickets.