Chennai Super Kings (CSK) had an awful time of it in the 2022 IPL so far. The defending champions were second from bottom after their first 8 games winning just 2 and losing 6 games. Seemingly out of the playoff spots, Ravindra Jadeja relinquished the captaincy and handed it back to Mr. CSK MS Dhoni. The change seemed to work immediately as a Dhoni-led CSK coasted to a 13 runs victory against Surisers Hyderabad.
Having been put in to bat by Hyderabad, CSK opening pair of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway put together the 4th highest opening partnership in the history of the IPL as they scored 182 runs for the first wicket. Ruturaj was caught at backward point for 99 to end the partnership, but the duo had already laid a winning platform for CSK. Eventually, they ended up with 202 for 2 off their 20 overs, with Conway staying unbeaten on 85 off 55 balls.
There was little to cheer for SRH from their bowling contingent but Indian veteran Bhuvneshwar Kumar conceded just 22 from his 4 overs and T Natarajan kept things tight in the end to stop CSK from getting to a 220-225 score that they threatened to achieve at one point.
In response, Hyderabad got off to an excellent start through their young gun Abhishek Sharma and captain Kane Williamson reaching 58 in the 6th over. However, CSK’s left-armer Mukesh Choudhary rocked their innings with 2 wickets off successive balls to derail the entire chase.
South African Markram threatened to bring the innings back on track with 2 successive sixes but was dismissed off the very next ball. With the climbing required rate, Williamson succumbed to the pressure as well after scoring 47 off 37 balls. Nicholas Pooran did score an impressive 64 off 33 balls including 24 from the last over, but the game was over well before that.
The result doesn’t change the teams’ position as Hyderabad remains in the 4th spot and Chennai in the 9th spot but this does give a faint chance to Chennai to make the playoffs if they win all their remaining games. CSK will next face Bangalore on Wednesday to try and continue their revival while Hyderabad will face Delhi the next day.
