Kishan inspires Sunrisers to five-wicket win over CSK and playoffs qualification
Ishan Kishan and Heinrich Klaasen's 75-run partnership in 41 balls led the Sunrisers Hyderabad's excellent fightback, leading them to a comfortable five-wicket victory over the Chennai Super Kings in their Tata IPL match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Monday evening.
Having successfully chased 181 in exactly 19 overs, the Sunrisers secured their passage into the playoffs - while helping Gujarat Titans to also qualify - as the two sides are now locked on 16 points from 13 matches, while CSK's seventh loss in 13 keeps them on 12 points.
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After his side endured a slow start thanks to accurate bowling from their hosts in the entertaining run chase, Kishan inspired his side with a fighting 70 from 47 balls, which included seven fours and three sixes, as he and Klaasen (47 from 26; 6x4, 2x6) added a crucial 75 runs before the South African was brilliantly stumped by Chennai keeper Sanju Samson in the 15th over.
Klaasen left his side with 50 more runs to get, with Kishan pushing on to his half-century, before Salil Arora and Smaran Ravichandran combined to take the team over the line at the end of the 19th over.
Sunrisers had earlier restricted Chennai to 180 for seven, doing well to take wickets regularly, with the first two having been taken inside the powerplay after being asked to field at the toss.
Captain Pat Cummins led the line brilliantly, accounting for three in three overs - and took his 200th T20 wicket - as he finished with impressive figures of 3-28 in four overs, while Sakib Hussain chipped in with two scalps to finish with 4-0-34-2.
 in the middle after the loss of two wickets - that of Sanju Samson (27) and Urvil Patel (13) - who had accounted for the bulk of the runs and boundaries after their side won the toss and opted to bat. Samson raced to 27 off just 13 balls as he clubbed five fours and a maximum - the latter scored off the very first legal ball of the innings, bowled by Nitish Kumar Reddy (1-0-17-0), who had overstepped on the match's opening ball - before outside edging opposing captain Pat Cummins (1-13) in the third over, while Patel faced eight balls for his 13 before he was clean bowled by Sakib Hussain (2-0-8-1) two overs later.</p>
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South African Dewald Brevis top-scored with 44 from 27 balls for the home side and achieved his highest score in this season's tournament in the process, with the help of two fours and four sixes. He was also involved in an innings-defining partnership worth 59 runs in 38 balls with Shivam Dube (26), with whom he helped to lift CSK from 100 for four in the 12th over to 159 for five in the 18th.
Kartik Sharma, who had come in at four in the powerplay with his side seemingly starting to lose a bit of momentum at 48 for two, contributed a valuable 32 from 19 balls (3x4, 2x6) and added 42 with his captain, Ruturaj Gaikwad, before Cummins broke the stand, getting him caught at deep extra cover for his second of the night.
The Sunrisers' disciplined fast bowlers finished as they had started, with two more wickets in successive overs at the death. Hussain clean bowled Dube in the 19th over as he misread an off-cutter, while Praful Hinge conceded just eight runs and a single boundary in the final over before taking a catch off his own bowling to remove Prashant Veer.
𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞? 🧡 pic.twitter.com/bjWT30Pv66 — SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) May 18, 2026
CHENNAI SUPER KINGS Pat Cummins (captain), Abishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wkt), Salil Arora, Heinrich Klaasen, Smaran Ravichandran, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivang Kumar, Eshan Malinga, Sakib Hussain, Praful Hinge.
Impact options: Mukesh Choudhary, Matthew Short, Sarfaraz Khan, Aman Khan, Gurjapneet Singh
SUNRISERS HYDERABAD: Pat Cummins (captain), Abishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wkt), Salil Arora, Heinrich Klaasen, Smaran Ravichandran, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivang Kumar, Eshan Malinga, Sakib Hussain, Praful Hinge
Impact options: Aniket Verma, Travis Head, Liam Livingstone, Harsh Dubey, Harshal Patel
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