Eshan Malinga was the highlight of what was a superb bowling display by SRH. SRH bowlers fought back, led by Eshan Malinga, after CSK were off to a flier. SRH batted first and, thanks to explosive half-centuries from Abhishek Sharma and Heinrich Klaasen, posted a competitive 194/9 in 20 overs, as CSK came back well with the ball too.
In reply, CSK were off to a flier, but the SRH fought back with regular wickets as CSK got starts and never carried that momentum on. Eshan Malinga led the way as his 3-wicket haul rocked CSK’s batting. Nitish Kumar Reddy picked up 2 wickets as well. So, SRH wins this game by 10 runs and climbs to 4th in the points table.
Abhishek Sharma and Heinrich Klaasen’s fiery half-centuries power SRH to 194/9
Put into bat first, Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head came out to open for SRH while Matthew Short came onto bowl for CSK. After playing the first over cautiously, it was the Abhishek Sharma show as he teed off and tore apart the CSK bowling. Travis Head was slow and was a mere spectator, but Abhishek was in his element. The power play was well and truly with SRH as CSK did not know what hit them—Short got a lot of punishment in his third over.
The duo put on 75 for the first wicket before Travis Head was dismissed for 23 off 20 balls with 3 fours and a maximum to his name to Mukesh Choudhary. Ishan Kishan, the captain, came and went first ball for a golden duck as Mukesh had two in two balls with Ruturaj Gaikwad taking two catches as well. Heinrich Klaasen came in with SRH at 75/2 in 6 overs of power play.
Abhishek Sharma reached his half-century in 50 off 15 balls, and when on 51, he was dropped by Dube off Noor Ahmad. But that miss did not prove costly as Abhishek went to the score of 59 before he got a faint nick through to the keeper. Just 18 runs were added to the tally before Abhishek went, thanks to great usage of DRS for 59 off 22 balls with 6 fours and 4 sixes to his name against Jamie Overton. Aniket Verma came out to bat next.
Klaasen was set and played his shots as SRH was still being aggressive out there. The duo of Aniket and Klaasen added 19 runs to the tally before Aniket fell for 2 off 4 balls to Jamie Overton. The SRH were 112/3 in 10 overs before they lost the wicket of Aniket. Nitish Kumar Reddy came out to bat next. Reddy and Klaasen tried to forge a partnership, as this was the phase where CSK was pulling things back, or at least beginning to pull things back. Klaasen was strong and steady while Nitish got a few boundaries away.
The duo added a useful 35 runs for the 5th wicket before Reddy fell for 12 off 8 balls with one six to his name to Overton. Keeper batter Salil Arora came out to bat next. Arora played his shots while Klaasen completed his fifty and was hungry for more runs. The duo added 30 runs and useful ones at that for the 6th wicket before Klaasen fell for a well-made 59 off 39 balls with 6 fours and 2 sixes to his name as he dragged onto the stumps off Anshul Kamboj.
Impact Player Liam Livingstone came out to bat next. Just 2 runs were added to the tally before the keeper batter Salil Arora fell for 13 off 12 balls with 2 fours to his name to Gurjapneet Singh. Shivang Kumar came out to bat next and showed his bit of playing his shots. Liam hardly got a strike while Shivang dominated the bulk of the partnership. The duo added 14 runs for the 8th wicket before Shivang fell for 12 off 8 balls with one four and one six to his name to Kamboj. Praful Hinge came out to bat next.
Just one run was added to the tally before Livingstone fell for 1 off 5 balls to Kamboj, who had two wickets in the over. Hinge remained unbeaten on 0 off 1 ball as SRH ended with 194/9 in 20 overs. 13 extras given by the fielding side.
CSK bowlers came back well with the ball in hand. Anshul Kamboj picked up wickets in the death overs and finished with 3/22 in 3 overs. Jamie Overton finished with 3/37 in 4 overs. Mukesh Choudhary finished with 2/21 in 2 overs. Gurjapneet Singh finished with 1/34 in 4 overs. Noor Ahmad finished with 0/33 in 4 overs. Matthew Short finished with 0/38 in 3 overs. So, this meant that CSK needed 195 runs to win the contest in 20 overs.
Eshan Malinga’s wonder spell inspires SRH to a narrow 10-run win
Chasing 195 for the win, keeper batter Sanju Samson and captain Ruturaj Gaikwad came out to bat for CSK while Praful Hinge had the ball in hand for SRH. CSK came out of the blocks very quickly. Samson hit a maximum to get going, while Gaikwad hit a crisp boundary. They got 15 off the first over. But SRH hit back as Nitish Kumar Reddy struck, getting rid of Samson for 7 off 3 balls with one six to his name. Impact Player Ayush Mhatre came out to bat next.
Mhatre came out all guns blazing and dominated the power play phase. Gaikwad was complimenting him and playing second fiddle to him. Mhatre was looking dangerous till he injured his hamstring and was in real pain out there. The physio came out twice, which disrupted the flow of the game and allowed SRH to come back in the game. The duo of Gaikwad and Mhatre put on 51 runs for the second wicket before Mhatre fell for 30 off 13 balls with 5 fours and one six to his name to Reddy yet again. Matthew Short came out to bat next.
The score was at 66 when Gaikwad fell to a short ball as he got the nick through to the keeper for 19 off 13 balls with 3 fours to his name to Eshan Malinga. Sarfaraz Khan came out to bat next. At the end of the power play, CSK were 76/3 and still in contention, one must say. But the middle phase is where SRH clawed their way back into the game. Short and Sarfaraz tried to forge a stand, with the latter being the aggressor while Short was trying to take the game deep.
The duo of Short and Sarfaraz added a crucial 46 runs for the 4th wicket before Sarfaraz fell for 25 off 19 balls with 3 fours to his name to Malinga. Dewald Brevis came out to bat next. Brevis came and went for a 4-ball duck as CSK added one run to the tally before Brevis fell to Shivang Kumar to leave CSK tottering at 113/5 in 11.4 overs. Shivam Dube came out to bat next.
Dube and Short got together as the required rate started to go up. They tried to forge a partnership and added 35 runs for the 6th wicket before Short fell for 34 off 30 balls with 3 fours to his name to Malinga again. Jamie Overton came out to join Dube in the middle. Both of them were struggling with timing out there. Dube and Short could add only 6 more runs to the tally before Dube fell for 21 off 16 balls with one four and one six to his name to Sakib Hussain. Anshul Kamboj came out to join Overton in the middle.
Kamboj hit a maximum at a crucial stage, while Overton too scored a few runs and got the boundaries away. The duo brought the equation down to 18 off the last 6 balls. The duo added 28 runs for the 8th wicket. With 13 needed off 3 balls, Overton tried to go big and was holed out in the deep for 16 off 15 balls with one four to his name to Praful Hinge as Livingstone took the catch. Noor Ahmad came out with 13 needed off 2 balls.
Just 2 runs were added to the tally off the last two balls as CSK was eventually restricted to 184/8 in 20 overs. Kamboj remained unbeaten on 13 off 8 balls with one six to his name, while Noor was unbeaten on 1 off 1 ball. 18 extras given by the fielding side.
SRH bowlers bowled really well out there in the middle. Eshan Malinga was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/29 in 4 overs. Nitish Kumar Reddy finished with 2/31 in 4 overs. Shivang Kumar finished with 1/18 in 3 overs. Sakib Hussain finished with 1/32 in 4 overs. Praful Hinge finished with 1/60 in 4 overs. Abhishek Sharma bowled an over for 13 runs. So, SRH win this contest by 10 runs to climb upwards to 4th in the points table. CSK are in 7th place. Eshan Malinga was awarded the Player of the Match Award.
What Lies Ahead
So, SRH climbs to the 4th spot with this crucial win, while CSK are in 7th place as we speak. CSK will face MI next on Thursday in Mumbai. Two more matches are coming our way on Super Sunday. First up, it’s KKR vs RR from Eden Gardens, Kolkata, live at 3:30 PM IST. This will be followed by PBKS hosting LSG from New Chandigarh in Mullanpur. Let’s see how these two clashes pan out on Super Sunday.
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