A quick-fire 90 by David Warner combined with Shikhar Dhawan’s timely onslaught meant MS Dhoni’s heroics went in vain at his home ground, the JSCA Cricket Stadium in Ranchi, on Thursday. Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Chennai Super Kings by six wickets to keep their play-off hopes alive.
Hyderabad will now have to hope that Rajasthan Royals lose both their matches and they win their next against Kolkata by a huge margin to have any chance of qualifying on the basis of better net run-rate.
Earlier, Dhoni with his blitzkrieg helped Chennai post 185. The India captain plundered 24 runs from Dale Steyn’s final over. He smashed the world’s premier fast bowler for two sixes and as many fours.
Sudden shift
The sudden shift of gears by Dhoni made the atmosphere electric. Unfortunately, the venue was half-empty and Dhoni’s fans will regret their decision of not turning up.
Steyn was at the receiving end for the second time in this edition of the IPL. AB de Villiers, his South Africa teammate, had earlier destroyed the pacer at the Chinnaswamy Stadium hammering him for 23 runs in an over with a leg-bye taking the total tally to 24.
Chennai openers Dwayne Smith and Faf du Plessis seemed running away with match when Hyderabad captain Darren Sammy handed over the ball to leggie Karn Sharma.
{{/usCountry}}Chennai openers Dwayne Smith and Faf du Plessis seemed running away with match when Hyderabad captain Darren Sammy handed over the ball to leggie Karn Sharma.
{{/usCountry}}The move paid dividends as it not only checked the run flow but also fetched much-needed wickets for the visiting team. The leggie, who plays for Railways, returned figures of two for 19.