Sunrisers Hyderabad ended their three-game losing streak with a comfortable six-wicket win over MS Dhoni-less CSK at Hyderabad. After winning the toss, stand-in CSK skipper Suresh Raina opted to bat first and despite a 79-run opening stand, a collapse meant that CSK finished with just 132/5. In response, David Warner's 24-ball fifty broke the back of the chase before Jonny Bairstow's fifty saw SRH home with 19 balls to spare.
Here are the three major takeaways from SRH's win over CSK:
CSK miss Dhoni's finishing touch
When your leading run-getter in the tournament doesn't feature, it is obviously going to have an impact on your batting. And that proved to be the case for CSK despite the fact the openers set up the perfect platform after putting on 79.
A batting collapse that saw them go from 79/0 to 101/5 in the space of five overs didn't help their cause. But what was worse was their inability to finish with a flourish. Neither Ambati Rayudu nor Ravindra Jadeja got the ball to the ropes with any regularity towards the end.
Against an SRH side, which have been one of the worst death bowling sides of the tournament so far, they managed just 30 runs in the last five overs, which included just two fours. Their inability to score quickly at the death meant that they finished with a below-par total.
SRH get back on track
Despite having one of the most balanced sides on paper, SRH haven't really managed to set the stage on fire so far in IPL 2019. Their major problem has been their bowling, which used to be their strength, has been their undoing far too often but against CSK, they were back on track.
Although they were unable to get a wicket in the powerplay, SRH's bowlers came back brilliantly in the middle overs. Their spinners, led by Rashid Khan, turned on the squeeze and set things up for the death overs, where they finally managed to execute.
The trio of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma and Rashid bowled the last five overs and their combination of slower balls and yorkers meant that CSK only managed 30 runs and just two boundaries in that period.
With the bat, Warner got them off to a rapid start and despite a wobble, they didn't look back after that. With four wins out of eight, they got back into the race for the playoffs.
Problems brewing for CSK?
With seven wins already and just two losses, including this one, CSK already have one foot in the playoffs but that doesn't mean that they don't have any issues to sort out.
While they have had several players step up with the bat this season, aside from MS Dhoni and Faf du Plessis, no one else has been consistent. Shane Watson showed some glimpses but hasn't quite been able to replicate his heroics from last year's final.
The form of Ambati Rayudu is a particular worry, especially considering his lacklustre strike rate. Without Dhoni, the middle-order remains shaky and it might be time for them to considering replace last year's in-form opening duo of Watson and Rayudu.