Opener Ambati Raydu smashed his maiden century in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as Chennai Super Kings coasted to an easy eight-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad to virtually seal a play-offs berth here today.


Rayudu, who has been in great touch this season, remained not out on exactly 100 which he made from 62 balls with the help of seven fours and seven sixes as CSK chased down the target of 180 with one over to spare.


The 32-year-old Rayudu stitched a 134-run stand with senior partner Shane Watson (57) for the opening wicket to lay the foundation of the comprehensive win. Watson, also one of the centurions of this IPL, hit five fours and three sixes during his 35-ball knock.


Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni remained not out on 20 from 14 balls as CSK reached 180 for 2 from 19 overs.


Rayudu carried his bat through the innings as he crossed 500 runs this season. He is on third spot among top run getters with 535, behind Sunrisers captain Kane Williamson (544) and Kings XI Punjab's Lokesh Rahul (537).     


The win by former champions CSK also snapped Sunrisers six-match winning streak this season.


The Sunrisers, who have already qualified for the play-offs, remained on top of the table with 18 points from 12 matches while CSK are at second spot with 16 points from the same number of matches.


Rayudu and Watson gave scant respect to the Sunrisers bowlers, touted as the best in this IPL, as they were rarely troubled by the bowling attack which had the likes of India pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar and highly-rated Afghan leg-spinner Rashid Khan.


Bhuvneshwar had another rare poor day in office, after the treatment he got from Delhi Daredevils' Rishabh Pant, as he leaked 38 runs from his four overs without any success.


Rashid went wicketless and conceded 25 runs while Bangladeshi left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan was hit for 41 runs for no success. Medium pacer Siddharth Kual leaked 40 runs from his three overs as the Sunrisers bowlers had a rare collective off day today.


CSK made a flier of a run chase, scoring 53 for no loss in the powerplay overs with Rayudu hitting Bhuvneshwar for two sixes during that period and Watson doing the dame to Sandeep Sharma (1/36).


By the halfway mark, CSK had galloped to 93 for no loss. The quick dismissal of Watson and Suresh Raina (2)  gave a brief hope for the Sunrisers but Rayudu continued in the same vein of six-hitting spree while Dhoni gave him company till the end to ensure there were no hiccups in the chase.  


Sunrisers Hyderabad innings


 


Shikhar Dhawan and Kane Williamson delivered yet another masterclass to lead Sunrisers Hyderabad to 179 for two against Chennai Super Kings.


Dhawan smashed a 49-ball 79 while Williamson, who notched up his seventh half-century of the season, scored a crafty 51 as the duo put together a 123-run partnership for the second wicket. This comes after the duo had put on a 176-run stand – the highest for any wicket in this season - the other night against the Daredevils.


In the end all-rounder Deepak Hooda played a nice little cameo (21 off 11) to help the table toppers close in on the 180-run mark.


Opting to bat first Sunrisers lost Hales (2 off 9) early and the slowness of the wicket did not allow them to get off to a flier. They were 29 for 1 at the end of the powerplay, mainly due to some terrific bowling from Deepak Chahar.


However, the experienced due of Dhawan and Williamson started to take on the CSK spinners as soon as they got their eyes in.






Toss Report


Chennai Super Kings won the toss and opted to field first against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune.


"There have been some venues where people like to chase. If we bat first and put runs on the board there's no point of always chasing. It's important to keep winning games and keep adding those points. The last game wasn't good. We play 14 games in the tournament so we'll have a few bad ones. The wicket will not change in the course of the game, so it doesn't matter," said Dhoni.


Super Kings have brought in medium pacer Deepak Chahar in place of leg-spinner Karn Sharma. Chahar was out of action for a couple of weeks after suferring an injury.


"The surface doesn't tend to change in day games as the dew factor doesn't come into play. It's important to assess conditions and post a good score. It was nice to chase down the total last game. Shikhar is batting beautifully. It's important for us to play with freedom. We want to stick to our plans and post a good score," says Williamson


There is one change for Sunrisers too, Deepak Hooda comes in place of Yusuf Pathan, who is out with a niggle. 


Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Alex Hales, Shikhar Dhawan, Kane Williamson(c), Manish Pandey, Shakib Al Hasan, Deepak Hooda, Shreevats Goswami(w), Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul, Sandeep Sharma


Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, Sam Billings, MS Dhoni(w/c), Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, David Willey, Harbhajan Singh, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur


Preview


Needing a win from three games to book a play-offs berth, former champions Chennai Super Kings take on table toppers Sun Risers Hyderabad in an Indian Premier League match on Sunday.


The Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Super Kings started their campaign, after returning to the T20 League from a two-year ban, on a high by winning five out of their first six games before losing to defending champions Mumbai Indians.


They now have 14 points from 11 matches and they just need one win from the three games in hand. Last night's defeat to 2008 inaugural edition champions Rajasthan Royals, also returning to the fold after two years, has made CSK wait in their quest for a play-offs spot.


The four-wicket loss to the Royals was their third in their last five matches and another setback against Sunrisers, who have been the team to beat in this edition and are the first to enter the play-offs, could dent their chances.


No wonder Dhoni lost his cool during the post match presentation and blamed his side's bowlers for failing to defend the total of 176 against Rajasthan Royals.


"We were supposed to bowl one particular length. The bowlers were instructed what to bowl: back of a length. They could not execute. We were hit for a lot of boundaries off full balls. 176 was a par-plus score, the bowlers let us down," the normally cool Dhoni said after losing to RR in Jaipur.


The usually reliable Harbhajan Singh went for 29 runs for one wicket and was not called upon to bowl again although two overs of his four-over quota remained.


CSK's batting has clicked with all the players getting runs under their belt with Australian Shane Watson, Ambati Rayadu, Suresh Raina, skipper Dhoni and West Indian Dwayne all in good form.


But they need to be backed up by the bowlers and a re-jigging of the bowling attack may be on the cards.
With 18 points to their credit, SRH, led astutely by New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson will also look to consolidate their top spot and ensure a top-two finish at the end of the league stage.


Opener Shikhar Dhawan (290 runs) got into the groove at the opportune time with a big knock against Delhi Daredevils while inspirational skipper Williamson (493 runs) has been in prime form throughout the tournament.


Yusuf Pathan (186 runs), Manish Pandey (184) and Shakib-Al-Hasan (158) have also chipped in at crunch situations.


But it is in their versatile bowling attack, the Sunrisers have been the pick of the teams. The bowlers, led by India pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, were terrific till the last game when Rishabh Pant took them on with a whirlwind unbeaten 128, albeit for a lost cause.


The attack, which has successfully defended low totals, needs to erase the memories of the hammering it got against Delhi Daredevils and get back into the groove against the dangerous Super Kings batting line-up.


Bhuvneshwar has been backed up superbly by Siddharth Kaul (13 wickets), Sandeep Sharma, leg spinner Rashid Khan (13) and Shakib-Al-Hasan (12).


The Teams (From):


Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C), Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Faf Du Plesis, Harbhajan Singh, Dwayne Bravo, Shane Watson, Ambati Rayadu, Deepak Chahar, K M Asif, Kanish Seth, Lungi Ngidi, Dhruv Shorey, Murali Vijay, Sam Billings, Mark Wood, Kshtiz Sharma, Monu Kumar, Chaitanya Bishnoi, Imran Tahir, Karn Sharma, Shardul Thakur and N Jagadeesan, David Willy.


Sunrisers Hyderabad: Kane Williamson (C ), Shikhar Dhawan, Manish Pandey, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Wriddhiman Saha, Siddharth Kaul, Deepak Hooda, Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Shreevats Goswami, Ricky Bhui, Basil Thampi, T Natarajan, Sachin Baby, Bipul Sharma, Mehdi Hasan, Tanmay Agarwal, Alex Hales, Carlos Brathwaite, Rashid Khan, Shakib Al Hasan, Mohammad Nabi and Chris Jordan.
Match starts at 4 PM.