CSK vs SRH Match Highlights:
Chennai Super Kings 202/2
Sunrisers Hyderabad 189/6 (20 ov, T:203)
Super Kings won by 13 runs
What we saw in today’s match is nothing but a dream for any CSK fan, Thalla leading the Yellow army and the players performing their best. CSK looked like last year’s team that scored big, bowled decent, and dropped catches. Giving a massive total of 203 for Sunrisers to chase, Chennai had a good cushion for their bowlers to take risks and go for wickets than to be economical. They followed the plan and went for the same. Sunrisers fought well as they showed intent from the beginning and hit shots that were necessary to chase such a big target. With big shots accompanies the risk of faltering and getting out for catches and this is what happened with SRH. Their run rate didn’t seem to dip much in the first ten overs but as soon as the wickets went down, the required run rate went up. Even when Chennai dropped a good number of easy catches, it was not enough to save Sunrisers. Nicholas Pooran looked fine with his clean hitting as he tried to reduce the margin of CSK’s victory. In the end, Chennai won their third match by 13 runs.
Dhoni is the leader that CSK is used to playing under and it showed in today’s match. They were energetic. The field looked dynamic and MSD took the responsibility to talk to bowlers in between the overs and manage them in a way to get wickets consistently. Special mention to Ruturaj Gaikwad who missed his hundred by one run and Devon Conway. The duo made batting look effortless on the pitch which created problems for even the best batters for the past few matches. It may be a little too late to see this side of CSK but it sure has made fans emotional and happy.
Kane Williamson, the losing captain was calm as ever as he spoke about his team’s loss. He said “It’s always a challenge to chase over 200. We had challenges trying to find overs in the first innings too. But they played well. We did not have all the resources going in, and unfortunately did not cross the line. We tried our best to adjust but losing Nattu and Washi was bad. We have to learn to deal with adversity as they can come up anytime. We chased well as the pitch slowed down. We need to touch on things and move on, stay connected with what worked in the first half to comeback by building on performances.”
The winning captain MS Dhoni had a lot to share today as he returned as the captain of CSK, during the post-match presentation, he shared “I think it was a good score to defend. It’s one of those coincidence where we got off to a good start and forced the bowlers to bowl the areas where we wanted to hit. The kind of target we got was a very good one. The phase that really worked for us was where the spinners were bowling after 6 overs. We have had quite a few good batting performances, we have given couple of overs that went for 25-26 runs, and even when you score 200, it really comes down to 175-180 in 19 overs. It’s important to try something different as a bowler. I always told my bowlers, you may get hit for 4 sixes in an over, but the 2 balls that you save – ultimately in a high-scoring game – those are the 2 deliveries that will help you win the game. Because a lot of bowlers, after getting 3-4 sixes, they will be like let’s get done with it but that one boundary or even instead of sixes if you get hit for 2 fours that will help you in a game. I don’t know if they believe in that theory, but it really works. Between me and Jadeja, he knew last season itself that he will be given a chance to captain this year. He knew and got enough time to prepare, what is important is you want him to lead the side and I wanted that transition to happen. In the first 2 games there was information going in towards Jaddu and after that I left it to him to decide which angle to bowl and all that. At the end of the season, you don’t want him to feel as the captaincy was done by someone else and I’m just going for toss. So it was a gradual transition. Spoon-feeding doesn’t really help captain, on the field you have to take those crucial decisions and you have to take responsibility for those decisions”
PLAYER OF THE MATCH– RUTURAJ GAIKWAD
