IPL 2020, SRH vs CSK: MS Dhoni-Led Chennai End 5-Match Losing Streak With 20-Run Win Over Hyderabad

IPL 2020, Chennai vs Hyderabad match in UAE today: Kane Williamson eventually notched up his 13th IPL fifty off just 36 balls but in the end failed to do the bigger job as Sunrisers Hyderabad lost the match by 20 runs. A win for SRH, on the other hand, would have helped them break into the top-four in the IPL 2020 points table for the first time.

MS Dhoni-skippered Chennai Super Kings, experiencing their worst-IPL season, finally ended their five-match losing streak by defeating under-pressure Sunrisers Hyderabad by 20 runs at the Dubai International Stadium on Tuesday. The 2019 runners-up had lost 5 from 7 games with very less time remaining for them to revive their campaign and tonight's win will definitely give the much-needed confidence. A win for SRH, on the other hand, would have helped them break into the top-four in the IPL 2020 points table for the first time.

Chasing 168 for the victory, David Warner and Jonny Bairstow came out in the middle to start the Sunrisers run chase to face CSK's Deepak Chahar with the new ball. Deepak Chahar bowled a tidy first over to give away just 4 runs from his over. Sam Curran shared the new ball with Deepak from the other end. The duo attained 6 runs from Curran's first over a with a boundary and some singles.

SRH openers Bairstow and Warner were striking the ball neatly and CSK needed a wicket desperately to keep themselves alive in the match. After fiery cameo with the bat, Sam Curran drew first blood for CSK with the ball by cleaning up skipper Warner for just 9.

Curran continued to enjoy the Powerplays with Sunrisers losing two wickets in his second over. After catching Warner off his own bowling, the flamboyant all-rounder saw Manish Pandey get run out, courtesy a super throw from Bravo. CSK were now in the driver's seat as Kiwi batting legend Kane Williamson joined opener Bairstow in the middle with SRH wobbling at 27/2.

At the end of powerplay, the Orange Army managed to reach 40/2 after losing two big wickets of David Warner and Manish Pandey. Also, it happened for the first time Hyderabad lost more than one wicket in the Powerplay this season.

Kane and Jonny started building a partnership to steady their team's sinking ship and helped SRH get past the 50-run mark. With veteran spinner Piyush Chawla yet to be introduced into the bowling attack by Mahi, the required run rate notched past 10 runs per over. Bairstow and Williamson continued to bat steadily, but not threatening enough.

Just before halfway, Ravindra Jadeja delivered a huge blow to under-pressure Hyderabad by breaching Bairstow's defenses to hit the stumps. SRH lost their third wicket with 59 on the board and youngster Priyam Garg joined Kane in the run-chase.

Garg and Williamson broke the shackles by hitting a few boundaries to relieve some pressure with them needing 75 off the last six overs. The mounting pressure got the best of young Garg (16 runs off 18 balls) as he tried to go big but the slog from his was a mistimed one that went straight to the hands of Jadeja for a simple catch at deep mid-wicket.

Just first ball after the timeout, Vijay Shankar smashed a six but was cleaned up by Bravo in the very same over with a brilliant yorker. Shankar tried to hit the ball over the point but could only manage to find Jadeja for getting caught out for 12.

Meanwhile, Williamson eventually notched up his 13th IPL fifty off just 36 balls but in the end failed to do the bigger job as Sunrisers Hyderabad lost the match by 20 runs.

Earlier, Chennai Super Kings won the toss and opted to bat first. The CSK team management made a big change in batting order by sending Sam Curran and Faf du Plessis out in the middle to start the proceedings.

Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers bowled remarkably well to restrict the star-studded batters of Chennai Super Kings to 167/6 at Dubai International Stadium on Tuesday. Curran became Sandeep's second wicket of the day after which Watson and Rayudu provided stability to CSK. After the pair fell, MS Dhoni and later Jadeja pushed CSK beyond the 150-run mark.

Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): David Warner(c), Jonny Bairstow(w), Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Priyam Garg, Vijay Shankar, Shahbaz Nadeem, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed, T Natarajan

Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Piyush Chawla, Shardul Thakur, Karn Sharma