SRH vs CSK IPL 2024: Clinical Sunrisers demolish Chennai Super Kings for winning return to Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Sunrisers Hyderabad's Aiden Markram plays a shot during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 T20 cricket match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, in Hyderabad, Friday, April 5, 2024. (PTI Photo) (PTI04_05_2024_000363B)

Sunrisers Hyderabad celebrated their home coming with a six-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. Chasing a paltry 166, SRH achieved the target as local lad Nitish Kumar Reddy hoisted Deepak Chahar for a straight six over the sight screen.

Before SRH set their chase, Jaydev Unadkat said at the innings break that he didn’t see much difference in the surface than the one used during IPL’s highest scoring match between SRH and Mumbai Indians. Openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma soon proved that the veteran seamer was correct in his reading of the pitch.

SRH went on to post 78/1 in the powerplay with Abhishek doing the bulk of scoring (37, 12b, three 4s, four 6s) before falling to Deepak Chahar-Ravindra Jadeja combine, caught at the deep backward point by the latter.

CSK drop match in the first over

Defending a little over 8 runs per over against the side which has at least top three batters with 200+ strike rate, CSK needed an early break. They missed the opportunity off the second ball of the home team’s chase. It was one of those regulation catches at the slip, but Moeen Ali gave Travis Head and SRH a huge reprieve. CSK could ill afford such mistakes when their main strike bowler Mustafizur Rahman wasn’t available and they didn’t have a considerable score to defend.

Head, batting as an impact substitute, finally fell for 31 (24b, three 4s, one 6), caught by Jadeja off Maheesh Theekshana. With SRH 106/2 in the 10th over, the match was almost decided in the home team’s favour.

Aiden Markram scored the only half century of the match (50, 36b, four 4s, One 6). With less than a run-a-ball to chase, he had no need to go for an ambitious reverse sweep and lose his wicket. Moeen tossed one wide outside off. Vicious turn beat the bat and Markram on the pads right in front.

The deadly Moeen-reverse sweep combination also claimed the wicket of Shahbaz Ahmed, trapped lbw for a 19-ball 19 (one 6).

Poor start lack of partnerships

Earlier opting to field first, Pat Cummins marshalled his resources to great effect as SRH stayed in control of proceedings during the powerplay and death overs. In between Shivam Dube continued with his good run of form to keep CSK in the game. CSK also lacked partnership before and after Dube's stay in the middle.

Dube dominates SRH attack

Dube was the only CSK batter to dominate the SRH attack. His 65-run partnership with Ajinkya Rahane was the only period when CSK were in control. Dube took three deliveries to take stock of the situation, and then went after each bowler he faced. Mayank Markande, Shahbaz Ahmed and T Natarajan were taken to the task as Dube hammered two fours and four sixes.

CSK reigned-in in death overs

T Natarajan, Cummins, Unadkat and Bhuvneshwar conceded just 38 runs between them in the last five overs, the most preferred period for the batting sides in T20 format to accelerate their run rate. Even Ravindra Jadeja (31*, 23b, four 4s) wasn’t allowed to take much liberty. The Chennai innings was curtailed from 127/4 after 15 overs to 165/5 at the end.

Hyderabad fans celebrate MS Dhoni

The sea of yellow in the Uppal stadium could easily create an impression of CSK playing at home. Everyone waited for MS Dhoni to walk out. The former CSK spinner batted for just two deliveries and one run, but the roar in the 55,000 capacity Uppal stadium would have echoed through the City of Nizams.