SRH vs CSK: Rashid Khan, Jonny Bairstow guide Sunrisers Hyderabad to victory over Chennai Super Kings

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) displayed a clinical performance to defeat Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by six wickets in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL).

The hue of champions Chennai Super Kings’ yellow overshadowed Sunrisers Hyderabad’s orange at the latter’s home ground on Wednesday. Most of them wearing MS Dhoni’s jersey No 7 were disappointed not to see him in action after the skipper decided to sit out, handing over the captaincy to Suresh Raina.

Sunrisers Hyderabad bowler Rashid Khan with teammates celebrate after dismissing Suresh Raina. (PTI)

There was not much to cheer for them as CSK suffered a mini batting collapse in the middle-overs to finish on 132/5, their lowest total in this edition batting first. SRH didn’t let slip the advantage, reaching 137/4 in 16.5 overs, the six-wicket win their fourth of the season.

David Warner (50 – 25b) struck his fifth half-century in eight innings this IPL – he also has a century – as he raised a 66-run opening stand with Jonny Bairstow. Later, David Warner (50) and Jonny Bairstow (61*) made sure that Sunrisers didn’t suffer the same fate at the last match when they lost eight wickets for just 15 runs. Deepak Chahar had Warner caught and leg-spinner Imran Tahir removed skipper Kane Williamson and Vijay Shankar cheaply.

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However, Bairstow stayed on complete a fifty (61no – 44b), finishing it off with a six at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here.

CSK were given a good start by Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis, who put on 79 for the first wicket. It was their season’s best but the wheels came off with Sunrisers bowlers tightening the screws. With Dhoni in the dugout, CSK scored just 30 runs in last five overs, and only 52 in the last 10 overs.

Sunrisers bowlers again used the conditions well, bowled in the right channels and hardly erred in line. It all started with left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem, who cleaned up Watson as he tried to loft him into the on-side terraces. CSK lost momentum after that with wickets falling one after another and runs drying up.

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Vijay Shankar celebrated his World Cup call up with only his second IPL wicket when he had CSK’s top-scorer Faf Du Plessis caught behind for 45 (31b, 3x4, 3x6). In walked Ambati Rayudu and the social media spiralled with 3D glasses jokes. Shankar had him in trouble the first ball he faced but at the end of the over they had a hug suggesting there was no animosity between them despite Rayudu’s tweet.

Then came the double blow in the 13th over when leg-spinner Rashid Khan sent back Raina (13) and Kedar Jadhav (1). The Chennai run-rate tapered off after that with Rayudu (25 no – 21b, 2x4) nor Ravindra Jadeja (10 no – 20b) shackled by Sandeep Sharma – who gave just eight runs in the 19th over – and Bhuvneshwar Kumar – five runs in the 20th.