Twitter Reactions: SRH defy MS Dhoni's CSK to sneak a 7-run win

The struggles continues for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) as they have lost to the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the match 14 of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). However, one has to credit SRH for keeping their cool even after losing Bhuvneshwar Kumar to injury in the crucial 19th over. They bowled brilliantly and it was all about their youngsters, Priyam Garg, Abdul Samad and Abhishek Sharma, on the day.

After opting to bat first, SRH found a new hero in Priyam Garg and was well supported by Abhishek Sharma. The two youngsters came together with the team reeling at 69/4 after 11 overs. They first took their time while the latter took charge to hit some lusty blows. Garg took over the control of the innings in the 17th over when Sam Curran came on to bowl.

The momentum changed completely as SRH earned 22 runs in the over with Garg hitting three fours and a six. Then Deepak Chahar went for 13 runs in the next over and eventually SRH added 53 runs in the last four overs to end on 164 runs for the loss of five wickets. Garg remained unbeaten on 51 while Sharma scored 31 before getting out. However, things didn’t look good at the start and one felt, SRH batsmen have never arrived.

Jonny Bairstow bagged a duck getting out in the first over to Deepak Chahar. Manish Pandey looked good for his 21-ball 29 but he failed to convert his start into a big score. Warner scraped his way to 28 before getting out while Kane Williamson was involved in a horror mix-up with Garg to leave the team struggling at 69/4 after 11 overs. But it ended well for the Orane Army as their youngsters bailed them out of trouble when it mattered the most.

Another painful CSK chase

Yet again, CSK didn’t get off to a good start in the chase. They changed the opening combination sending Faf du Plessis with Shane Watson. But the new ball swung a bit and that kept both the batsmen on the tenterhooks. Watson eventually was dismissed by Bhuvneshwar Kumar and suddenly, CSK had nothing on the board after three overs. Their first boundary also came in the fifth over of the innings off Ambati Rayudu’s bat.

But T Natarajan bowled a ripper of a delivery to get rid of him and then Faf du Plessis was run-out after misjudging a single. Kedar Jadhav also followed his partner soon to leave the team in a hole at 42/4 in the ninth over. MS Dhoni was already in the middle and Ravindra Jadeja joined him as they resurrected the innings first.

CSK were already too much behind in the net run-rate and the rebuilding of the innings led to the required run-rate shooting up. Moreover, Rashid Khan bowled a miserly spell yet again to concede only 12 runs in his four overs. It all came down to them needing 78 runs in the last four overs. Both the batsmen, Jadeja and Dhoni, were set by then and the former decided to up the ante finally.

He scored three consecutive fours off Bhuvi to eke out 15 runs in the 17th over. He then began the 18th over on a good note as well smashing 12 runs off three balls. But T Natarajan came back well to get him caught in the deep. However, Sam Curran came out and pulled a bouncer to the six off the first ball. 19 runs were scored in the over as the equation came down to 44 off two overs.

Things turned on its head when Bhuvi pulled up in his run-up and despite trying so hard, couldn’t bowl more. The physio attended him and his leg was strapped to complete the over. But to his agony, Bhuvi couldn’t just complete his run-up itself and Warner took a brave call to finish the over with Khaleel Ahmed leaving the last one for the spinner with 28 runs to get.

Abdul Samad was given the responsibility to defend against MS Dhoni and to SRH’s agony, Bairstow missed a stumping off a wide delivery and the equation came down to 23 off six balls. After running a couple even while struggling to run, MS Dhoni smacked a four to bring it down to 17 off the last four. However, Abdul Samad kept his calm in such a pressure situation and managed to restrict CSK to help the team win by 7 runs.

Dhoni remained unbeaten on 47 and Jadeja scored a half-century but the top-order’s failure led to CSK falling short yet again. While SRH are back in the business now winning two on the trot, the three-time champions continue to stay at the bottom after losing three consecutive matches for the first time since 2014.

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