Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) thrashed five-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the IPL 2025 game at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Harshal Patel was the star of the contest as his four-fer meant CSK were folded for just 154. Ishan Kishan’s 44 then helped the Orange Army claim their maiden win vs CSK at Chepauk. Meanwhile, Harshal Patel is our Player of the Day for his sensational spell.
Harshal Patel opened his account in the fifth over as Sam Curran (9) fell to him. The well-set Dewald Brevis, who made 42 runs, was his next victim, in the 13th over. It was a short stay for the talismanic MS Dhoni as Harshal ended his stay in the 17th over. Tail-ender Noor Ahmad was his last victim as CSK could not survive their 20 overs. Pat Cummins and Jaydev Unadkat also contributed well by sending two batters back each.
Harshal Patel , who finished with 4/28 in his four-over spell, took his second four-fer of the season. He has now raced to 13 wickets across eight matches in IPL 2025 at an economy rate of 8.85. Overall, the pacer has taken his tally to 148 IPL wickets from 114 matches at 22.91. This was his fourth four-fer. He owns one fifer as well. Against CSK, he now owns 21 wickets from 12 matches (ER: 7.80)
Harshal Patel cleverly deceived batters with his clever mix of pace and played a big role in CSK’s collapse. His dismissals of Curran, Brevis, and Dhoni meant meant CSK could not build a solid partnership. The pacer was equally brilliant in the end overs as CSK were folded in just 19.5 overs. SRH later won the game by five wickets.
Pitch Report and Toss
Pitch report: “70 metres on one side and 63 on the other side. 74 metres down the ground. Looks quite dry and very similar to what we have seen previously. It is going to be slightly on the slower side, bit of two-paced and I think the bowlers are going to use the change of pace and predicting a little bit of spin as well. Looks like it might be tricky,” reckon Simon Doull and Michael Clarke
Toss : Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper Pat Cummins won the toss and chose to bowl with one change in the Playing XI with Kamindu Mendis in for Eshan Malinga. Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni batting first made as many as three changes in the Playing XI bringing in Sam Curran, Dewald Brevis and Deepak Hooda for Jamie Overton, Rachin Ravindra and Vijay Shankar.
Harshal Patels 4-fer and brilliance in field by Kamindu Mendis restricts CSK to 154 all out
After a wicket first ball to Mohammed Shami, who had the young Shaik Rasheed caught at slip, CSK were put on the backfoot straightaway. Only the belligerence of Ayush Mhatre brought them some comfort inside the powerplay. The pitch was not one suited to go blindly after the bowlers and SRH did well to keep them in check largely.
Mhatre’s 19-ball 30 was once again the catalyst for CSK’s early momentum even as they lost crucial wickets in the phase. Sam Curran, replacing Jamie Overton for the game and coming in at No. 3, did not make an impact being caught off a slower ball from Harshal Patel. Mhatre’s cameo too came to an end inside the powerplay when he chipped Pat Cummins to mid off.
Despite a first-ball wicket for Mohammed Shami, the 17-year-old Mhatre continued to display his quality through good intent and efficient hitting through the off side. He hit six fours in the first four overs to take CSK to 37 for 1, but now SRH began to dig the ball in and started to make both him and Sam Curran hit into the leg side.
Harshal Patel was the bowler to kickstart the plan. Mhatre nearly holed out to deep midwicket before Curran actually did so. In the next over, Mhatre drilled Pat Cummins straight into the lap of mid-off. At 50 for 3, CSK edged past only their fourth powerplay of 50 or more in nine games.
Jadeja, coming in at No. 4, did not work once again for the hosts. The left-hander was dropped once before he was bowled by Kamindu Mendis for a 17-ball 21. At 74/4 near the halfway stage at this point, CSK were left searching for some power and momentum through the middle overs. Shivam Dube and Dewald Brevis, making his CSK debut, were able to provide that for a brief while.
Brought in in place of Rachin Ravindra, Brevis immediately looked a notch above the other batters in the match. Even as the placeholder No. 4 Ravindra Jadeja struggled to get any fluency, Brevis took down Kamindu, who had bowled the first two overs for no boundaries and took the wicket of Jadeja. On a dry pitch with enough grip in it, Kamindu made no mistake but Brevis still hit three sixes in his one over, the 12th. He then cut a slower bouncer from Harshal for a six off extra cover.
This is when Brevis looked to hit a second six off Harshal Patel. The ball was in the slot too. He got a good part of it but not quite the elevation. Kamindu, however, was too far in off the long-off fence, so it looked like he would be beaten but he flew to his left, went with two hands at this missile, and came up with the ball in his right hand.
The latter smashed four sixes and a four in his 25-ball 42 after a watchful start. But just as the spark was beginning to flare up, Brevis’ innings was cut short by a splendid diving catch by Mendis at long off. In the following over, the other veteran Jaydev Unadkat had the better of Dube pushing CSK back once again just as they were beginning to tee off.
After Brevis’ wicket, SRH turned the screws right in. Cummins bowled overs 16 and 18 for no boundary, hitting a Test-match hard length and beating the bat with some away movement. SRH kept chipping at the wickets, including MS Dhoni caressing Harshal Patel to backward point. There was no finishing kick.
Deepak Hooda hit a couple of useful boundaries that helped CSK along but the wickets kept tumbling at one end. Harshal Patel finished with a four-wicket haul in the process as SRH bowled CSK out for 154. The middling score was a result of the slow pitch and some accurate bowling suited the surface.
Ishan Kishan’s 44 runs and Kamindu Mendis 32 runs powers SRH to their first win against CSK in Chennai
Like CSK’s innings, SRH too saw an early dismissal with Khaleel Ahmed snapping up Abhishek Sharma for a duck having him caught at cover. Ishan Kishan and Travis Head managed to reverse the pressure slightly although boundary-scoring was largely difficult to come by. But just as they were beginning to build a partnership, Head was snapped by Anshul Kamboj with a delivery squeezing him on the pull and hitting the bail instead. It allowed CSK to keep a check on the run-rate and build some pressure.
If Shami took a wicket first ball, Khaleel Ahmed took one second ball, reaching eight powerplay wickets this IPL, joint-highest along with Mohammed Siraj. Anshul Kamboj, preferred to R Ashwin for this match, then bowled successfully to a difficult plan: a 6-3 off-side field with two mid-offs. He had Travis Head repeatedly playing across the line to straight balls, hitting the pad twice and then the top of off.
SRH were unable to get away from CSK with regular wickets hampering the progress. Heinrich Klaasen was snapped up by Ravindra Jadeja soon after the Powerplay which gave CSK a big boost. Ishan Kishan, who had got his eye in, and was SRH’s main firepower through that top-order fell against the run of play. Before that he had put on a useful 36-run stand with Aniket Verma which had made sure that SRH did not fall off track on a tough surface.
But Kishan was snapped up going for a big hit against Noor Ahmad just as he began to press on the accelerator bringing CSK back in the game. Noor got the better of Verma too in his next over leaving SRH in a spot of bother heading into the finish line. They were left needing 41 in the last five overs.
Ishan Kishan fought his way past 17 for the first time since the hundred in SRH’s first match, but it was an innings that hovered around a run a ball for a long time. Heinrich Klaasen, promoted ahead of Nitish Kumar Reddy who would eventually bat at No. 7, felt obliged to take a risk and got out to Jadeja to make it 54 for 3 in 8.1 overs.
With enough in the pitch for them, the CSK spinners continued to stifle Kishan and Aniket Verma. Just when Kishan looked like he could break free, Curran took a special catch at deep midwicket to send him back for 44 off 34. Verma swung a lot, hit two sixes, but became Noor Ahmad’s second wicket for 19 off 19, leaving 49 required in 6.1 overs.
Kamindu Mendis played an useful hand hitting boundaries off both Pathirana and Noor who were CSK’s go-to bowlers in the death overs. Nitish Reddy chipped in as well with some smart batting against Pathirana which also got him a couple of boundaries. Both Noor and Pathirana started conceding extras at the critical juncture which made things easier for SRH. Their unbeaten 49-run stand made the chase eventually a comfortable one.
The two overseas bowlers of CSK, Matheesha Pathirana and Noor, were generous with extras but it was more Kamindu’s assured sweeping that sent signals of calm to the SRH camp. It was actually a credit to the CSK bowling that they took the game so deep because even the changed ball was now wet and flying across the outfield.
Kamindu and Reddy didn’t have to do anything fancy in their unbeaten 49-run stand in under five overs. They didn’t try to hit a single six. Extras helped but they also timed the ball well. They got to their first away win of this season with eight balls to spare.
With wickets in hand and the dew factor coming into play later on, Sunrisers Hyderabad were able to run away with the game in the end overs. What was turning out to be a tight chase was broken open in a couple of overs, and it helped that SRH had batters of the caliber of Nitish Reddy and Kamindu Mendis at the crease even after losing five wickets.
They saw through the nervous period with crucial boundaries that eased SRH to victory. Mendis, earlier, had also made an impact on the field cutting short an imperious innings from Dewald Brevis with a fine catch that had helped SRH restrict CSK.
Presentations and Road Ahead
MS Dhoni the losing CSK skipper said : We kept losing wickets, and in the first innings the wicket was slightly better and 155 is not a justifiable score, because it wasn’t turning a lot.
Yes, after the 8-10th over, it became slightly two-paced when it comes to the fast bowlers, but nothing that was out of the ordinary, I feel we could have put few more runs on the board. Yes, second innings there was a bit of help, our spinners the quality was there and they bowled in the right areas and it was stopping a bit but we were short by 15-20 runs.
I think he (Brevis) batted really well and we need something like that in the middle order, where we have slightly struggled when the spinners come in, that’s a time we need to either you do it by batsmanship, where you pick up your areas or try to play the big shot in your area.
I feel that’s where we have been lacking and not been really able to dominate or get runs against spinners at good pace in the middle. In a tournament like this, if you have one or two areas where you can plug in the holes it is good, but if majority of your players are not doing well, it becomes very difficult.
Because you have to do a few changes, but if majority are doing well then you give those guys that extra few games and if it doesn’t work out than you move onto the next one. But if 4 of them are not performing at the same time, you are bound to make that change, because you can’t just keep on going.
Because we are not putting enough runs on the board, because it is essential right now, the game has changed. I am not saying it is always 180-200, but assess the conditions and then look to put the runs on the board.
Pat Cummins the winning SRH skipper said : That was great. Few things came together tonight. Boys played well. Good to see a few smiles. Was pretty clinical. Couple of guys at the top looked like taking the game on. In these conditions, threw Klaasen at the top and Nitish to finish it off. Our record here isn’t great. Be more clinical going forward but pleased with the win.
Harshal Patel Player of the Match for his 4 wickets said : Very pleasing win. We have been trying the same in the 3-4-5 games but some of the pieces have been missing in every single game . For all of it to come together, when we need to win all our games is pretty pleasing. I figured out pretty early, hitting the lengths and keeping it at the sticks was important. It was tough to hit the horizontal bat shots.
I wanted the batters to hit me over square-leg and mid-wicket. So, I kept pulling the length back and mixing my pace up. Was trying to bowl length to him (Dhoni). Wasn’t trying to bowl wide. Was one of those variations that you try and bowl something but it doesn’t come off. But glad it came off and went to hand.
For me, having my family helps me to switch off. Allows me to look at the bigger picture. It makes me feel that cricket is not the be all and end all of it. When I go on the field, I concentrate on cricket and when I come back off it, I want to be a good father and a good husband.
Sunrisers Hyderabad put in a clinical show to restrict CSK first to just 154 and then chased it down with five wickets in hand for a vital win. In an otherwise worrisome season, SRH finally had something to cheer as they registered their first ‘away’ win in IPL 2025, and also their first-ever against Chennai Super Kings on this ground. For the home team, it continued a trend of not being at home as they slipped to their fourth consecutive loss in Chepauk this season.
A three-pronged performance from Kamindu Mendis and Harshal Patel’s use of the middle of the pitch led Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) to win their first-ever match against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Chennai, a win SRH will hope revives a faltering campaign.
Dewald Brevis, on his CSK debut, and Ayush Mhatre, the youngest CSK player ever in only his second innings, threatened to inject some freshness into a stale CSK campaign, but the 154 they took CSK to was not enough to avoid their fourth loss at home in IPL 2025 even though they did give SRH a scare on the dry pitch.
In the kind of slugfest you expect of lowly-placed sides on a tricky surface, the batters overcame the conditions only in small pockets despite heavy dew for considerable duration of the game.
Brevis looked every bit the player that earned the nickname ‘Baby AB’, but his threatening innings was cut short on 42 off 25 balls by arguably the catch of this IPL by Kamindu, who had earlier wowed us again with his ambidextrous spin. CSK mounted a spirited defence, but Kamindu calmed SRH with his unbeaten 32 off 22 to see them home.
SRH stay afloat. CSK almost are out. Officially and mathematically CSK are not out yet though but it would need miracles one after the other on a loop for them to make it to the playoffs from this position. But their fourth consecutive defeat at home tells us about their despicable condition. CSK botched up their batting innings from being 114 for 4 to being 154 all-out.
That meant they were 15-20 runs short. SRH didn’t start well but Kishan held his end. Mendis came in with handy runs and Reddy put in the finishing touches. The difference would be that magnificent catch from Mendis at long-off of Brevis. Brevis was batting really well but Mendis plucked a blinder.
That dismissal was tough to quantify. And post that, Harshal Patel took charge. His slower ones bargained wickets for his side. SRH batters also looked pensive but the barrage of wides and few no-balls did help their cause. And not to forget the calmness that Kishan and Mendis displayed during the chase. There were soft dismissals but the runs on the board in the end weren’t enough.
CSK stay at number 10. SRH have climbed up a place thanks to this win. Their drought has ended but CSK continue to look for that elusive win. They changed a few personnel again but hasn’t helped them to change the final result. The positives were Mhatre and Brevis’s batting. Their bowling looked better but wilted again when it mattered the most. The dew also played a part as it wasn’t easy to grip the ball. They still have more games to continue figuring out their permutations and combinations.
SRH too made a few changes to the squad which started the tourney but the little tweaks helped today. Mendis played the pivotal part and Harshal Patel starred with the ball. They live to fight another day. CSK’s campaign had nosedived long back and it has fallen off to a deeper trench. Is there any light left for them to claw back? Or will the aberration this season continue SRH will have their campaign back on track after this
Chennai Super Kings stay at home to take on the Punjab Kings three days later on April 30 while Sunrisers Hyderabad will travel to Ahmedabad to face Gujarat Titans on May 02.
Also Read:Â CSK vs SRH: CSK’s Forgettable Run- A Season Of Collapses & Complacency