IPL: Sunrisers off the mark, as Super Kings remain winless
SUMMARY: Sunrisers Hyderabad 155-2 (Abhishek Sharma 75, Rahul Tripathi 39; Dwayne Bravo 1-29) beat Chennai Super Kings 154-7 (Moeen Ali 48, Ambati Rayudu 27; Washington Sundar 2-21) by eight wickets
The Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) registered their first victory in the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 after defeating the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by eight wickets on Saturday at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.
A splendid knock of 75 off 50 balls at the top by Abhishek Sharma, well supported by skipper Kane Williamson and Rahul Tripathi helped SRH chase down the target of 155 with more than two overs to spare.
Chasing a target of 155, SRH openers- Williamson and Sharma- started steadily with the bat. SRH only scored 37 in the first six overs, but the openers remained intact.
Skipper Williamson brought up the fifty partnership for the opening wicket with a six straight down the ground against Moeen Ali.
The duo added a four and a six each to the total and kept ticking on the runs as SRH were placed at 69-0 at the half-way stage.
Sharma notched up his half-century in the 12th over that produced 14 runs after Sharma whacked a four and six each against Jordan.
However, SRH lost the key wicket of skipper Williamson, who was caught inside the circle.
Tripathi got into the act straight away with a six. Meanwhile, Sharma continued to attack with his glorious shots. 13 runs were conceded off the 15th over, bowled by Mukesh Choudhary as SRH required 34 in the final five overs.
Tripathi thumped a six and three fours against Chris Jordan as SRH hammered 19 runs off the 17th over to bring up the fifty partnership was for the second wicket.
Earlier, CSK, who were put in to bat first, made one change – Maheesh Theekshana replaced Dwaine Pretorius in the eleven.
CSK openers – Ruturaj Gaikwad and Robin Uthappa- started confidently by striking three boundaries and CSK were 25-0 after three overs.
Washington Sundar provided SRH their first breakthrough after Uthappa was caught by Aiden Markram.
SRH scalped their second wicket after Natarajan cleaned the stumps of Ruturaj and CSK were 41-2 after six overs.
Only 10 runs were conceded in the next two overs and SRH were on top with the ball. Moeen Ali and Rayudu hit a four each in the ninth over to release pressure.
CSK were 68-2 at the halfway mark before Rayudu hit consecutive fours against Marco Jansen. CSK recovered very well as Rayudu and Ali switched gears.
The fifty partnership was up for the third wicket and CSK were 97-2 at the end of 13 overs. Sundar brought an end to the partnership after Rayudu was caught in the deep.
SRH fought back by scalping two more wickets. While Moeen was caught in the deep off Markram’s bowling, Shivam Dube was caught by short third-man as Natarajan picked his second wicket of the innings.
Bhuvneshwar conceded only four runs in the 17th over before Jansen picked his first wicket of the season to dismiss MS Dhoni at the other end.
14 runs came off the penultimate over after Jadeja smashed a four and six against Natarajan. Jadeja was dismissed in the last over by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, but CSK finished well with a total of 154-7 in the first innings. (IPL)
