Chennai seal playoffs spot with SRH win

The Chennai Super Kings are the first team to secure their place in the final four after the table-toppers comfortably brushed aside the Sunrisers Hyderabad – who are now eliminated from the competition with just two wins from 11 games. A matchup between two teams at opposite ends of the spectrum was always going to be a mismatch, but the game did go down to the final over as Chennai chased down Hyderabad’s total of 134 with only two balls to spare. 

Josh Hazlewood (3-24) and Dwayne Bravo (2-17) were amongst the wickets with the ball for Chennai, while another solid opening partnership from Gaikwad and du Plessis guided CSK home before MS Dhoni finished things off in style in the only way he can – with a six.

Chennai’s ninth victory of the season was set up by the bowlers. The pacers kept things tight in the powerplay – conceding only five runs in the first two overs – with Hazelwood removing the dangerous Jason Roy with a scrambled seam delivery that caught the edge on its way to MS Dhoni. SRH managed only 41 runs from the first six, and the Super Kings managed to make regular inroads throughout the middle overs. Dwayne Bravo removed both Kane Williamson and Priyam Gard before Ravindra Jadeja ended Wriddhiman Saha’s 46-ball struggle at the crease.

Abhishek Sharma and Abdul Samad did well to take SRH past three figures with a couple of excellent strikes over the ropes, but Josh Hazelwood removed both batters in the same over to finish with his best IPL figures of 3 for 24. 

CSK haven’t lost a wicket in the powerplay in any of their previous two games, and that trend continued in Sharjah as Gaikwad and du Plessis accumulated 47-risk free runs in the first six. Although both batters started cautiously, the pair smashed one six each off Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s second over before the South African creamed Jason Holder for a couple of boundaries.

Gaikwad and du Plessis have scored nearly 600 runs together this season at the top of the order and shared another 75-run partnership against SRH before Holder removed Gaikwad for 45 as the right-hander failed to clear Kane Williamson at mid-off.

Holder also sent back Raina and du Plessis in the same over to add a little more drama to the contest with 26 needed off the final four. However, Rayudu and MSD struck one boundary each off the penultimate over from Bhuvneshwar Kumar before Dhoni sealed the victory with another maximum in the final over.

After a tumultuous time in the UAE in 2020, Chennai have bounced back impressively in 2021 – becoming the first team to qualify for the playoffs – and are looking like the team to beat as we approach the business end of the competition.