South African skipper Faf du Plessis pulled off a 'Houdini Act' to guide Chennai Super Kings to their seventh Indian Premier League final with a two-wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad in what has been a fairy tale comeback in the cash-rich league.


Chasing a modest target of 140, CSK were down in dumps at 92 for 7 before Du Plessis (67 off 42 balls) engineered a stunning comeback and fittingly finished the match with a straight six off Bhuvneshwar Kumar.


With 43 needing off last three overs, Du Plessis, who opened the batting, launched into Carlos Brathwaite's 18th over smashing him for 20 runs which included two sixes and two fours. Having done precious little in the tournament so far, the stylish right-hander put his hand up when it mattered most.


Siddarth Kaul bowling the 19th over paid for his inexperience in crunch game as 17 runs came off that over as No. 10 Shardul Thakur (15 off 5 balls) got three boundaries including a streaky one. Then it was Du Plessis, who finished the match having hit five fours and four maximums.






Banned for two seasons on charges of corruption, the most successful franchise in the history of T20 cricket played like a team possessed with their skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni once again at the forefront with calm demeanour.   


However Sunrisers bowlers do deserve credit for making a match of a small total but this time their luck ran out in the end.


Shane Watson (0) edged one off Bhuvneshwar Kumar while Kaul (2/32) castled Suresh Raina (22 off 13 balls) and in-form Ambati Rayudu (0) off successive deliveries.


MS Dhoni failed to read a googly from Rashid Khan while Dwayne Bravo was done in by extra bounce edging one to Shikhar Dhawan at slips.


Du Plessis waged a lone battle as wickets fell in a heap at the other end with Sandeep Sharma getting rid of Ravindra Jadeja and Deepak Chahar.


SRH innings                    


Chennai Super Kings bowlers came out firing all cylinders to restrict the in-form Sunrisers batting line-up to 139 for 7 in the first Qualifier at Mumbai.


If it wasn’t for Carlos Brahtwaite, who hit a few lusty blows towards the end, Sunrisers probably would not have even crossed the 120-run mark. Having said that, they are still short of a competitive total but with the Sunrisers bowling, you never know.


Effective seam bowling in Powerplay overs swung the game towards two-time champions early on in the innings and they never let it slacken except towards the end when Carlos Brathwaite (43 off 29 balls) laid into Shardul Thakur.


Skipper Kane Willamson (24), Yusuf Pathan (24) and Brathwaite (43 in 29 balls) were the useful contributors for Sunrisers on a track that offered good bounce.


CSK  pegged back Sunrisers at 47 for 3 with both Williamson and opener Shikhar Dhawan (0) back in the dugout.


Dhawan, the second-highest scorer for Sunrisers with 437 runs, was played on off Deepak Chahar of the first delivery of the match.


Williamson, in red-hot form in the season, produced three hits to the fence off the last three balls in the same over, an exquisite extra cover drive being the pick.


From the other end, Lungi Ngidi packed off the other opener Shreevats Goswami by accepting a smart return catch, when the batsman tried to pull.


At 34 for two Sunrisers, who came into the play-off game after suffering three straight losses, were in trouble and it worsened when they lost their skipper Williamson.


The New Zealand captain feathered a catch down leg-side ball off Shardul Thakur to rival captain Dhoni to leave Hyderabad reeling at 36 for 3 in the fifth over.


CSK, attempting to make it to their seventh final in nine seasons that they have been part of IPL, struck another blow just past the Powerplay period.


Shakib Al Hasan also fell to a leg-side catch by Dhoni off Dwayne Bravo (2/25) and it left Sunrisers at a spot at 50 for 4. After 10 overs, the score was a modest 64 for 4.


Ravindra Jadeja (1 for 13) sent back Manish Pandey cheaply as half the Sunrisers was back in the pavilion with only 69 on the board.


Then Bravo pulled off a stunner, pouching on to a low full-blooded drive from Pathan.


A late flurry from West Indian Brathwaite, who slammed Thakur for four huge sixes and a four in death overs, boosted the total significantly.


Toss


Mahendra Singh Dhoni once again called it right as Chennai Super Kings won the toss and elected to field first in the first Qualifier of IPL 2018 against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.


The Super Kings have expectedly brought in Shane Watson in place of Sam Billings.


“It's a 7'o clock start which means if there is dew makes it slightly easier in the second innings. That's one the reasons and we have chased quite well and also it's a ground where you can restrict the opposition to a decent score and chase it down. We have had a quite a few options, lucky to get some good players right from the start. It's always a fresh start and take it one game at a time,” said Dhoni at toss time.


Table toppers Sunrisers have gone in with same playing XI.


“Obviously there's dew factor at the Wankhede. It's important we get used to the conditions first up and get a good total on the board. We tried our best as we could to adapt to the conditions, but generaally Wankhede looks like a very good surface. It's important that we execute our plans, get a total on the board and defend well,” said Williamson.


Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Shikhar Dhawan, Shreevats Goswami(w), Kane Williamson(c), Manish Pandey, Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Carlos Brathwaite, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul, Sandeep Sharma


Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Ambati Rayudu, Shane Watson, Suresh Raina, Faf du Plessis, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Harbhajan Singh, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Lungi Ngidi


PREVIEW


An intriguing and no-holds-barred battle between two former champions is on the cards when table toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad clash with second-placed Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League Qualifier 1.


A slight net run-rate difference separated the two teams which finished the league stage on 18 points.


The riveting contest at the Wankhede Stadium will spell out who goes directly to the May 27 final, also scheduled at this venue, with the winner guaranteed a spot in the summit clash and the loser left to play Qualifier 2 in Kolkata on May 25.


The raucous Mumbai fans, thus, could expect a rip-roaring contest.


Super Kings seem to hold a slight edge going into the match as they have not only got the better of their southern rivals twice in the league stage of the competition but also have the winning momentum going into the match on what promises to be a bouncy track.


While Super Kings stopped the aspirations of Kings XI Punjab by overcoming a difficult start last night in their adopted home base of Pune, Sunrisers have been on a three-game losing run, having sealed their play-off spot with a victory on May 10 against Delhi Daredevils. 


They had somehow not been able to muster up the intensity shown in the better of their league stage campaign and to some extent their highly-rated bowling attack also looked off-coloured in the previous three games.


It was the Super Kings who halted Sunrisers' six-game winning streak with a comprehensive eight-wicket drubbing on May 13 in Pune.


Sunrisers have depended totally on their captain Kane Williamson, who has been in terrific form to rise to the number two slot in the leading run-getters' list with 661 runs at just over 60 per game.


Only he and Shikhar Dhawan (437 runs), who took some time to get going, have shown consistency with the bat in contrast to their bowling attack which, barring the last few games, has been the talking point of the season.


Sunrisers will need their middle order, especially Manish Pandey, to take up more responsibility to counter the Super Kings' thrust.


In bowling, they have depended mostly on seamers Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sidharth Kaul and Sandeep Sharma as well as on overseas spinners Rashid Khan and Shakib Al Hasan.


The bowling attack needs to come up with an effective plan to stifle Ambati Rayudu at the top of the order who took the game away with a scintillating hundred when the two teams last met. Rayudu made 79 not out in their first leg contest too.


The plus point for Super Kings, who have alternately blown hot and cold in their last six games, is that they have not depended on just a couple of batsmen although Rayudu has been their standout performer with 586 runs.


Shane Watson (438 runs from 13 matches) too has been in top form along with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The form of key batsman Suresh Raina, who anchored the innings splendidly against Kings XI yesterday with an unbeaten 61, is another encouraging sign.


The outstanding spell of fast bowling by young South African Lungi Ngidi, who grabbed 4 for 10 to take the man of the match award last night, could not have come at a more opportune time for the Super Kings.


With Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar and Dwayne Bravo doing their bit on the pace bowling front, Super Kings will be banking on spin twins Harbhajan Singh and Ravindra Jadeja to deliver in the middle overs.


The match timings have been advanced by one hour for the play-offs.


A women's exhibition game will take place at 2 PM IST before the evening clash with top Indian and foreign players taking part in the experiment.


Teams (From):


Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C), Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Faf Du Plessis, 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, N agadeesan, 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 7 PM IST.