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Gaikwad, Deshpande lead Super Kings to win over Sunrisers

cricket28 April 2024 18:30
By:Ross Roche
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Chennai Super Kings captain Ruturaj Gaikwad struck a big half century, while bowler Tushar Deshpande ripped the heart out of the Sunrisers Hyderabad chase as the host clinched a thumping 78-run win in their Tata Indian Premier League clash at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday night.

Gaikwad crunched 98 off 54 balls, cracking 10 fours and launching three sixes along the way, to lead the Super Kings to an imposing 212/3 batting first, before Deshpande obliterated the Sunrisers top order, and eventually finish with superb figures of 4-27 from three overs.

The Sunrisers' chase got off to a disastrous start as Deshpande ripped through their top order, having Travis Head (13) and impact player Anmolpreet Singh, for a first-ball duck, caught off successive deliveries in the second over.

He then had Abhishek Sharma (15) caught by Daryl Mitchell, who was everywhere on the field taking five catches, at deep point in the fourth over to reduce them to 40/3.

Aiden Markram, 32 off 26 balls (4x4), and Nitish Reddy (15) tried to revive their innings with a 32-run fourth wicket stand, but Reddy tried to slog Ravindra Jadeja only to sky the ball to keeper MS Dhoni, and Markram was bowled by Matheesha Pathirana, as they fell to 85/5 in the 11th over.

Heinrich Klaasen (20) and Abdul Samad (19) combined for a 32-run sixth-wicket partnership, but when Klaasen hit Pathirana straight to Mitchell at long-on, it sparked a collapse that saw them lose their last five wickets for 17 runs as they crashed to 134 all out.

GAIKWAD JUST MISSES OUT ON A TON

In the first innings Gaikwad shared in two big partnerships of 107 with Mitchell, 52 off 32 balls (7x4, 1x6), and 74 with Shivam Dube, 39* off 20 (1x4, 4x6), to get their side to a commanding total.

At the start of play the Sunrisers won the toss and chose to bowl, with the Super Kings innings getting off to a bumpy start as Ajinkya Rahane (9) hit Bhuvneshwar Kumar straight to Shahbaz Ahmed at wide long-on with the score 19/1 in the third over.

But that didn’t stop Gaikwad as he hammered boundaries over the next three overs to allow Mitchell to settle in and get the Super Kings to 50/1 by the end of the powerplay.

The batters continued ticking things along. Two sixes, one from Mitchell and one from Gaikwad that took him to a 27-ball half century, off Pat Cummins in the ninth over saw 15 off it, before they reached the halfway mark well placed on 92/1.

Mitchell had started off slowly, but picked up the rate as his innings went on, which saw him reach a 29-ball fifty with a single off Cummins in the 13th over, but in the next he hit a full toss from Jaydev Unadkat straight to Reddy at deep midwicket to depart.

That brought Dube in and along with Gaikwad they continued on, attacking in the closing overs as they brought up the team's 200 at the end of the 19th over.

With Gaikwad in touching distance of a second consecutive century he however fell in the last over, hitting a slower ball from Thangarasu Natarajan straight to Reddy on the long-on boundary as he tried to reach the landmark in style.

CHENNAI SUPER KINGS: Ajinkya Rahane, Ruturaj Gaikwad (capt), Daryl Mitchell, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (wk), Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Mustafizur Rahman, Matheesha Pathirana

SUNRISERS HYDERABAD: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Nitish Reddy, Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins (capt), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Thangarasu Natarajan

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