CHENNAI: Ravindra Jadeja’s penetrative bowling of 3/22 and Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni’s deft handling of his bowlers ensured Sunrisers Hyderabad surrendered meekly at Chepauk in the IPL. Chepauk has been Jadeja’s favourite hunting ground. A few months back he took a five-for against Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy.
Plus, one can never forget his 7 for 48 that ensured innings and a 75-run win for India over England in 2016. Keeping in tune with his reputation, Jadeja once again was in his element, bowling wicket to wicket and tight lines, with subtle variations. He put his experience to use as Hyderabad batters could only post a meagre score of 134/7 in their quota of 20 overs.
In reply, Chennai got off to a solid start with openers Ruturaj Gaikwad (35) and Devon Conway striking the ball well. Gaikwad was the first man to be dismissed but the latter kept up the tempo and scored a cracking half-century (77 off 57 balls) to help the home side over the line. This was CSK’s fourth win of the season.
Full marks to Dhoni for keeping in mind the slightly overcast conditions, and dew factor while putting Hyderabad into bat. Plus he did a splendid job behind the stumps, be it taking a catch, effecting a stumping and a runout. Barring Abhishek Sharma (34), none of the Hyderabad batters showed the pluck to score some runs.
Hyderabad chief coach, Brian Lara, had a few days back said that his team’s middle order was a work-in-progress and expected them to fare better against Chennai. But it was the same old story again. Mayank Agarwal is an opening batter who can score runs off the new ball, but he was sent at No 6 and cut a sorry figure. Washington Sundar, as a top-order batter, has a first-class century to his name. Strangely, he is considered a tail-ender and has never been given a chance to prove his credentials as a batter.
Dhoni is a captain who believes in empowering his bowlers if he finds potential in them. Like the way he instilled confidence in the likes of Deepak Chahar and Mukesh Choudhary, he has been guiding the likes of Tushar Deshpande and Akash Singh this season. Harry Brook, the man on whom the visitors had pinned their hopes for a good start, was disappointed.
Brief scores: Hyderabad 134/7 in 20 ovs (Abhishek 34, Tripathi 21; Jadeja 3/22) lost to Chennai 138/3 in 18.4 ovs (Conway 77, Gaikwad 35).