Rayudu, Chahar help CSK beat SRH in their own backyard

Their unbeaten run in the tournament snapped by the 'Gayle Storm', Sunrisers Hyderabad would look to bounce back when they take on Chennai Super Kings in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match on Sunday.

Chennai Super Kings on Sunday continued their winning streak defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad by 4 runs in their own backyard. Brilliant captaincy from MS Dhoni along with some intelligent bowling towards the end choked Hyderabad who were closing in on the target after a horrid start.

Chasing a stiff target of 183, skipper Williamson (84 off 51 balls) along with Yusuf Pathan 27-ball 45 brought Hyderabad close to the target after top order failed miserably in the absence of Shikhar Dhawan. Debutant Ricky Bhui got out for a duck after facing only 5 deliveries. Post Bhui, Manish Pandey and Deepak Hooda got out for 0 and 1 respectively, leaving ther side at 22 for 3 after 5 overs.

But after the debacle, Williamson and Pathan stitched a brilliant 112-run stand for the fifth wicket bringing SRH close to the target. With 42 required off 18 balls, Williamson and Pathan at their brutal best looking to hit everything out of the park, Bravo came up with a brilliant over to the rescue CSK dismissing Williamson off a slower ball. Pathan too in succession followed the skipper courtesy a brilliant catch from Jadeja. Though Rashid Khan’s cameo of 17 off 4 balls somewhat delayed Chennai’s celebration but in the end Hyderabad fell short by 4 runs.

For Chennai, Deepak Chahar bowled brilliantly giving away only 15 runs in his 4 overs, bagging 3 important wickets. Along with Chahar, Jadeja to slipped in with tight overs giving away only 28 in his quota of 4 overs.

Ambati Rayudu was awarded with man of the match award for his brilliant 79 off 37 balls.

CSK batting summary

After a slow start, Chennai pulled of some lusty blows in the latter part of the innings to power the side to 182 at the end of 20 overs against Sun risers Hyderabad on Sunday afternoon.

Riding on a swashbuckling knock from Ambati Rayudu (79 off 37 balls) and an unbeaten 54 off 43 balls from vice-captain Suresh Raina, Chennai recovered brilliantly after a horrid start from Watson and Faf Du Plissis.

At one stage Chennai were struggling 32 for 2 after 8 overs but Raina along with local boy Rayudu steadied the ship for Chennai. With 120 on the board after 15 overs, runs flow was not the same as CSK would have imagined but the duo also made sure that wickets were not thrown away till the end.

In the final overs both switched gears and dealt in mainly in boundaries and sixes. An unfortunate Rayudu run out in the seventeenth overs seemed to halt the free flow of runs but Dhoni’s (25 off 12 balls) cameo helped CSK get pass the score of 180.

OUT, But that's okay - Rayudu to Raina https://t.co/XoswTarTjl via @ipl

— aroosn❤️❤️ (@aroo92052007) April 22, 2018

For SRH, Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the top performer with the ball giving only 22 in his three overs while clinching the priced scalp of Shane Watson. Apart from Bhuvi, rest all the bowler went over 8 RPO. Rashid Khan once again got whacked for 49 in his quota of 4 overs.

Toss and team news

Match number 20 of IPL between Sunrisers Hyderabad and southern giants Chennai Super Kings is being held in Hyderabad. Home team has won the toss and elected to bowl first against Dhoni’s Super Kings. After David Warner SRH now has to deal with the absence od Shikhar Dhawan who has been rulde out due to injury.This is for the first time in five seasons SRH are playing a match without Warner and Dhawan.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ricky Bhui, Kane Williamson (capt), Manish Pandey, Shakib Al Hasan, Deepak Hooda, Yusuf Pathan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan, Siddarth Kaul, Billy Stanlake

Big blow to Sunrisers Hyderabad as Dhawan misses out due to injury. Ricky Bhui replaces Dhawan in the top order. Billy Stanlake comes back in for Chris Jordan. So a total of two changes for SRH in the match.

Chennai Super Kings: Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, Sam Billings, MS Dhoni (capt, wk), Ravindra Jadeja, DJ Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Karn Sharma, Shardul Thakur, Faf Du Plisis

On change for CSK in today’s game. Imran Tahir misses out due to illness. Faf Du Plisis comes in place of Tahir.

Preview

Their unbeaten run in the tournament snapped by the 'Gayle Storm', Sunrisers Hyderabad would look to bounce back when they take on Chennai Super Kings in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match on Sunday.

Both the Sunrisers and the Super Kings have six points each from four matches, having lost just one game so far, and a win by either side at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium at Uppal will take them to the top of the table.

The Sunrisers began their IPL campaign with three wins on the trot before they were stopped on their tracks by West Indian swashbuckler Chris Gayle, who played a special innings of 104 not out off 64 balls at Mohali on Thursday.

The Kane Willamson-led side will have to forget the battering of his bowlers by Gayle and quickly regroup against the Super Kings who, despite having to shift their home venue to Pune due to the Cauvery water dispute, have been doing very well.

After winning their first two matches, the Super Kings slumped to a defeat against Kings XI Punjab before bouncing back with a 64-run win over Rajasthan Royals yesterday on the back of smashing century (106 from 57 balls) from veteran Australian Shane Watson.

Watson has been in fine touch with both the bat and ball, thereby proving his utility as a top-class all-rounder. He is currently the top scorer and top wicket-taker for CSK but tomorrow he will be up against one of the most balanced sides in this IPL.

All the front line bowlers of the Sunrisers -- Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddhart Kaul, Billy Stanlake and Shakib-al-Hasan -- have been among the top wicket takers so far this season though young Afghan spinner Rashid Khan is struggling a bit with just three wickets from four matches. He was taken to the cleaners by Gayle in their last match, conceding 55 runs for one wicket.

Kaul has six wickets while Kumar, Stanlake and Shakib have taken five wickets each.

For CSK, Watson is the top bowler with six wickets to his name. Man to man, the Sunrisers have been a better side in the bowling department. In fact, they are touted as the most balanced bowling unit of this IPL.

In the batting department, the Super Kings have a lot of depth. They have batsmen who can play shots well up to the number seven spot. Watson has been leading the charge but Ambati Rayudu and captain and stalwart Mahendra Singh Dhoni are also doing a decent job with the bat.

But Englishman Sam Billings and West Indian Dwayne Bravo have not done much after hitting a half century each, and both would be looking to do better, going ahead.

For the Sunrisers, Kane Williamson and Shikhar Dhawan are the main batsmen in their side. They have been playing that role very well so far though Dhawan had to retire hurt in their last match against Kings XI Punjab after being hit by the ball on his elbow.

The teams (From):  

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Kane Williamson (captain), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Manish Pandey, Rashid Khan Arman, Shikhar Dhawan, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Sandeep Sharma, Shakib Al Hasan, Carlos Brathwaite, Yusuf Pathan, Mohammad Nabi Eisakhil, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Billy Stanlake, Siddharth Kaul, Deepak Hooda, Syed Khaleel Ahmed, Shreevats Goswami, Basil Thampi, T. Natarajan, Bipul Sharma, Mehdi Hasan, Ricky Bhui, Sachin Baby, Tanmay Agarwal.

Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Faf du Plessis, Harbhajan Singh, Dwayne Bravo, Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Deepak Chahar, K M Asif, Kanishk Seth, Lungi Ngidi, Dhruv Shorey, Murali Vijay, Sam Billings, Mark Wood, Kshitiz Sharma, Monu Kumar, Chaitanya Bishnoi, Imran Tahir, Karn Sharma, Shardul Thakur, N Jagadeesan.