IPL 2021: Match 23, CSK vs SRH – Who Said What

The 23^rd match of the Indian Premier League took place between Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad. While SRH needed the two points badly in the contest, the three-time champions denied them big time by winning the clash by seven wickets. After owning the toss, David Warner invited the CSK battalion to show their bowling action first. It was Warner (57 off 55) and Manish Pandey (61 off 46) who pushed Hyderabad to post good 171 runs on the board.

Ruturaj Gaikwad was declared as the player of the match for displaying a spectacular batting show. It was going to be an average score for Hyderabad before Kane Williamson smashed 26 off 10 in the end. Lungi Ngidi picked two wickets for CSK while Sam Curran kept a fine check on the run flow.

It was Gaikwad-Du Plessis show for CSK tonight

While chasing up a fine target, the star openers of CSK, Faf du Plessis, and Gaikwad set a great tone. While the youngster smashed 75 off 44, Du Plessis brought in his third consecutive fifty (56 off 38) to accelerate the team’s innings. Quickfire 15 off 8 by Moeen Ali further took away the game from SRH. It was just the one-man show from the bowling section of SRH as Rashid Khan picked all three wickets.

Losing skipper, David Warner said:

 I take full responsibility for the way I batted, it was really slow, found a lot of fielders and I got frustrated. The way Manish batted was exceptional. Kane got us to a respectable total, but I take full responsibility as it was a total below par. I probably hit 15 good shots to the fielders, I couldn’t do much about it. They are the ones that make or break your innings. It gets frustrating as a batsman when you find the fielders. We had 170 on the board but we couldn’t take powerplay wickets and it’s always tough (to come back) on a good surface like this. Their two openers batted really well, but we fought well in the end. Felt like you could squeeze a bit after those wickets but they were always ahead in the game. He (Kane) was going to bat four no matter what, that’s where he bats, that is his job, just that I soaked up too many balls. It’s about being positive, it’s a good batting surface. We have a day game here as well. 170 is about a par total at night, but things could be different in a day game. From a batting perspective we need to find the gaps and need to be positive. The guys will be hurt by this, but they’ll be up and about.

Winning skipper, MS Dhoni said:

The batting was superb. But that doesn’t mean the bowling was not good. It was a surprisingly good wicket. Whenever we come to Delhi we never expect a wicket like this. It was coming on nicely, there was nothing for the spinners as well.Good thing was there was no dew. Last night we felt 170 was just below par if there’s no dew. Brilliant opening partnership. Addressing the problem. Whenever you start the tournament, you may or may not face issues in playing XI. The earlier you settle the better. Another factor was 5-6 months we were out of cricket. Nothing was allowed. It’s not that you can go on your own and practice. That also makes it difficult. Change of quarantine, was slightly longer. Lot of factors. Overall if I have to sum it up, the players have taken more responsibility this year. You will be facing adverse things but ultimately it boils down to how each individual rises to the occassion and gives the extra 10 percent for the team. Last 8-10 years we’ve not changed lot of players so they know our approach. Also we appreciate the players not playing a lot. Only way you can put it forward is having those nice interactions. Just try to have the frame of mind where if you get the opportunity you’ll be ready. Keeping the dressing room atmosphere healthy is important. It’s not an easy thing. When you’re at the top level you want to play. Have to give extra credit to the players who’ve not played so far.

Player of the match, Ruturaj Gaikwad said:

Means a lot (his highest IPL score). Little bit disappointed couldn’t finish it well. Little bit disappointed couldn’t finish it well. Think it was little bit two paced, little bit low bounced. Scoring big shots was difficult. It was all about how you hit gaps and hit over the fielders. Just planned who is the better bowler on this surface, who is not. One or two bowlers had a bit of an off day, cashed in on them. Just want to keep performing each and every match.