Twitter Reactions: All-round CSK overpower SRH by 20 runs in a tense encounter in Dubai

The second half of the Indian Premier League (IPL) began on Tuesday and the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have possibly started to make a comeback in the tournament. They defeated the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by 20 runs on a slow pitch in Dubai. It was a complete team performance from the three-time champions with them finally looking like a team that has done well all these years.

Earlier, CSK pulled a rabbit out of the hat by sending Sam Curran to open the innings alongside Faf du Plessis. The plan was for the former to go berserk from the word go. But Sandeep Sharma foxed Faf with a superb outswinger for a golden duck. However, Curran did his job perfectly after getting a hold of the conditions for a couple of overs. He took the attack to Khaleel Ahmed churning out 22 runs from his over.

Though Sandeep caslted him in the fifth over, the left-hander had done his job scoring 31 off 20 balls. Shane Watson and Ambati Rayudu then joined hands to stitch a decent partnership filled with ‘intent’ that MS Dhoni talked about after the previous game. The duo added 81 runs for the third wicket nicely mixing caution with aggression in around 11 overs to set the platform for the rest of the batsmen to come and go berserk.

Just when it felt that both Watson and Rayudu, in their 40s, would launch an assault on the opposition, both of them were holed out in the deep in an attempt to send a full toss out of the ground. With two new batsmen in, the momentum halted for a bit for CSK. However, Ravindra Jadeja had other ideas as he pierced gaps nicely to get some important runs.

MS Dhoni also smacked a huge 102-metre six and ran well between the wickets to score 21 off 13 balls. A good final over courtesy Jadeja (25* off 10) meant that CSK finished on 167 runs for the loss of six wickets after 20 overs.

An intriguing chase

Chasing 168 on a slow pitch in Dubai wasn’t going to be easy for SRH and it was evident right from the word go. The duo of Jonny Bairstow and David Warner couldn’t get going against the new ball. Sam Curran dismissed the SRH skipper to make things worse for the Orange Army. Bairstow never looked comfortable on a slow pitch and Ravindra Jadeja ended his misery for a 24-ball 23.

Manish Pandey also got run-out earlier and at 59/3 in the 10th over, SRH looked a bit under pressure. But Kane Williamson took Vijay Shankar and Priyam Garg by his side to take the team close even as the required rate continued to shot up. Williamson batted smartly throughout the innings and scored a fine half-century.

With 59 left from only four overs, Vijay Shankar smashed a six but got out later in the over. However, it was the Kiwi skipper who made scored vital runs later to bring it down to 42 off 17. Unfortunately, for SRH, he got out off the second ball of the 18th over to Karn Sharma. But this time around, Rashid Khan took the responsibility to play some enterprising cricket.

The Afghanistan leggie smacked 14 more runs in the same over to even make the mighty cool MS Dhoni lose his cool. But it was all smiles in the end for CSK thanks to Shardul Thakur and Dwayne Bravo who bowled exceptional last two overs to win the game for their team by 20 runs.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

https://twitter.com/akki_dhoni/status/1316074573998112768?s=20