Twitter Reactions: Faf du Plessis anchors CSK's herculean resurgence in Qualifiers

Chennai Super Kings beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 2 wickets.

By Nikhil Anand

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Faf du Plessis
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Faf du Plessis of Chennai Super Kings in action. (Photo by IANS)

The Chennai Super Kings scripted an improbable win in Mumbai in the first Qualifier of IPL 2018. Chasing a modest 139 to win in the game against the Sunrisers, the Super Kings were reduced to 92/7 at one stage. Faf du Plessis held the fort from one end for the team and scored an unbeaten 67 to guide the Super Kings to a two-wicket win. Shardul Thakur also played well towards the end to come up with serious entertainment.

Earlier in the game, the Chennai Super Kings had won the toss and opted to bowl first. The Sunrisers Hyderabad had a horrible start as they lost the wicket of Shikhar Dhawan on the very first ball of the match. It was Deepak Chahar who got the breakthrough for CSK. A flurry of boundaries followed from the willows of Sreevats Goswami and Kane Williamson. Things had started to rebuild when both the set batsmen were dismissed.

The wicket of Kane Williamson on 24, in particular, pushed the Sunrisers on the backfoot. The middle order failed to contribute on the big day as well. The likes of Manish Pandey and Shakib Al Hasan failed to get going. Yusuf Pathan tried his best with a crucial 24. The innings headed nowhere when Carlos Brathwaite spurred life into the game. The burly Windies cricketer hammered 43 off just 29 balls with a four and four sixes to propel the SRH total to 139/7 in the stipulated 20 overs.

In the run chase, the Chennai Super Kings failed to find any partner for Faf du Plessis on the day. Shane Watson was dismissed for a duck by a beauty from Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Suresh Raina counter-attacked with a quick 13-ball 22. But twin strikes from Siddarth Kaul in the fourth over saw Raina and Ambati Rayudu head back to the pavilion. MS Dhoni was then undone by a brilliant googly by Rashid Khan.

The innings kept crashing as CSK found the chase going out of hand on the day. But Faf du Plessis held the fort for the Chennai Super Kings at one end. He creamed 20 runs in the 18th over bowled by Brathwaite to bring CSK right back in the game. Also, he reached his fifty. In the very next over, Shardul Thakur hammered 3 fours off Siddarth Kaul to set up 6 runs chase in th final over. Du Plessis needed just one ball to finish things off with a straight six down the ground. He remained unbeaten on 67 off 42 deliveries with five fours and four sixes to his name as CSK eked out a two wicket win.

Here is how the cricket world reacted to the Chennai Super Kings run chase:

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