Chennai Super Kings arrest the slump by clinching victory against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Tuesday.
After a torrid first half of the season, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) start the second half with a much-needed victory against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on October 13. MS Dhoni’s men delivered a complete performance at Dubai International Cricket Stadium to clinch their third win of the tournament.
CSK finally got a chance to bat this season after Dhoni won the toss on Tuesday. The Chennai based franchise managed to put up a challenging score for SRH on a slow pitch. SRH remained in the chase for a long time, but couldn’t finish it in the end due to accurate bowling from CSK. Here are important takeaways from CSK’s win against SRH.
Sam Curran provides urgency in the top order
CSK has struggled to get off to a flying start in almost every game this season. The team management sent Sam Curran to open the innings in the hope of scoring more runs in the powerplay. The young English all-rounder repaid the faith by scoring 31 runs in 21 balls with the help of three fours and two sixes.
The overall run rate of the team was still not up to the mark as Shane Watson took some time to get going, but Curran’s blitz at the top allowed the middle order to get some time on the pitch before finishing strongly. Curran is a pinch hitter, so he will always provide momentum against the run of play. Opening the innings with him will provide CSK some respite in the middle order due to his urgency to score runs quickly.
CSK bowlers continue their good form
In the past three games, CSK’s bowling unit has been doing fairly well to restrict opposition for decent scores. However, the poor batting from the middle-order always masked the good performance of the bowlers. On Tuesday, CSK’s bowlers continued their good form by defending a par score.
Dwayne Bravo, Sam Curran, and Deepak Chahar either delivered economic spells or wicket-taking spells. They managed to keep SRH away from getting into a stronger position in the run chase. Ravindra Jadeja also bowled a fine spell to restrict the flow of runs. CSK’s bowling unit will be hoping that batsmen will continue to compliment them in the upcoming games.
SRH need a big hitter in the middle order
SRH has been relying on David Warner and Jonny Bairstow to do the bulk of scoring runs for them. The duo failed to do so against CSK, but Kane Williamson managed to build the innings by scoring 57 runs in 39 balls. While the Kiwi batsman held the fort at one end, SRH needed big hitting from the other end to chase down the total.
Williamson needed other batsmen to score quick runs around him, but no one could execute this role. Priyam Garg is a fine talent, while Manish Pandey has been a consistent performer for SRH, but the current team needs a pinch hitter that can score runs quickly. Promoting Rashid Khan higher up the order on a few occasions can sort this problem, but a more accomplished batsman would provide SRH much more impetus in their batting.
By Kiran Thakare