MUMBAI: There was high drama by Mumbai’s high seas, as Chennai Super Kings surged into the final of the 11th Indian Premier League on Tuesday.
Faf du Plessis, who had made minimal contribution to his team going into the first qualifier, pulled off an unlikely escape, scoring his first half-century this season to guide his team past SunRisers Hyderabad.
Chasing a target of 140, the two-time champions looked done at 92 for seven after 15 overs. But on a rare bowlers’ day out, Du Plessis did the star turn. He hit 67 off 42, and finished with a six to take Chennai to a two-wicket win with five balls to spare. Making a return after a two-year ban, Chennai’s 37-run blitz in two overs (18 & 19) saw them complete their comeback in style.
The Wankhede Stadium, usually drenched in blue, was specked with colours of yellow and orange. And the late drama made up for the lack of big hits from both teams. While the pitch rewarded good bowling, it didn’t quite spitfire — as the tumble of wickets might suggest.
Top-heavy Hyderabad got off to the worst possible start when Shikhar Dhawan chopped the very first delivery, by Deepak Chahar, back onto the stumps. Dhawan and captain Kane Williamson had scored almost 50 per cent of team’s runs through the 14 league matches. And the over-reliance showed.
Williamson, a traditionalist, had looked T20 savvy during his brisk knock of 24 off 15. But he failed to put away a ball sliding down leg, edging it to wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Hyderabad’s middle-order had been unable to deliver this season, and they lacked the spine to stand up to a disciplined attack.
The stats, for a T20 match were stunning.
Hyderabad went through a spell of 44 balls, where they couldn’t score a boundary for more than seven overs. Chennai bowled a total of 54 dot balls and Hyderabad’s first six came in the 18th over.
While Chahar and Lungi Ngidi’s pace was too much early on, R Jadeja’s crafty spell had the batsmen completely at sea. The left-arm spinner teased them into submission, giving away only 13 runs in four overs.
Carlos Brathwaite added some bulk to the total towards the end. He hit successive sixes in the 18th over. In the last over, he hit two more and a four to give his team something to bowl at.
And his team almost made a feast of it. Shane Watson was dismissed in the first over by the Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Siddarth Kaul then sent back Ambati Rayudu and Suresh Raina. But it was leg-spinner Rashid Khan who produced the magic. He had Dhoni with a wrong ’un and finished with two for 11 off four overs.
Chennai were falling like nine pins, until Du Plessis took matters in his own hands in the 18th over, returning Brathwaite the favour by taking 20 runs off him.
Thakur, fortunately, got two thick edges, outside and inside, to hit two fours off the first two balls of the 19th over. In a matter of eight balls, the match had slipped away from Hyderabad.
Brief scores: SunRisers Hyderabad 139/7 in 20 ovs (Brathwaite 43 n.o; Bravo 2/25) lost to Chennai Super Kings 140/8 in 19.1 ovs (Du Plessis 67 n.o; Rashid 2/11).