CHENNAI: Devon Conway’s fearless unbeaten knock of 77 runs and Ravindra Jadeja’s magnificent spell helped Chennai Super Kings (CSK) clinch a 7-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match here at MA Chidambaram Stadium on Friday.
CSK started their chase of 135 with Ruturaj Gaikwad slamming a boundary off Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s delivery. Gaikwad and Devon Conway were off to a spectacular start with the bat and released pressure straightaway. The duo made optimum use of the field restrictions and produced 23 runs off the final over of the powerplay as they moved to 60/0.
Both the openers complimented each other very well and the Chennai Super Kings were cruising in the chase. Devon Conway reached his half-century off just 34 deliveries as the home side were 86/0 at the halfway mark.
SRH finally produced a breakthrough in one of the most unusual ways as Gaikwad was run-out at the non-striker’s end after the ball touched Umran Malik’s hand in his followthrough. The visitors didn’t give up as Mayank Markande claimed the wickets of Ajinkya Rahane and impact player Ambati Rayudu in no time.
However, Conway remained unbeaten in the end and finished the job for CSK, who completed a clinical victory by 7 wickets.
Earlier, Jadeja’s three-wicket haul helped CSK restrict SRH to 134/7. For CSK, Jadeja bagged three while Akash Singh, Maheesh Theekshana and Matheesha Pathirana claimed one wicket each. For SRH, Abhishek Sharma scored the highest with 34 off 26 while Rahul Tripathi played a knock of 21 runs.
Opted to field first, CSK received a fine start as their bowlers kept Sunrisers Hyderabad openers Harry Brook and Abhishek Sharma on their toes with their quality bowling. In the 5th over of the game, Akash Singh drew first blood as he removed SRH opener Brook for his individual score of 18.
The right-handed batter Rahul Tripathi then came out to bat. Tripathi and Abhishek handled SRH’s charge as they kept piling runs for their team, slamming boundaries regularly. However, their partnership was broken by Ravindra Jadeja who dismissed well-set batter Abhishek for 34 in the 10th over of the game.
Abhishek’s wicket invited right-handed batter and captain Aiden Markram to the crease. Hyderabad lost their two main players in under two overs as Jadeja first cleared Tripathi for 21 and then in the 13th over Maheesh Theekshana dismissed Markram for 12.
Heinrich Klaasen kept the scoreboard ticking as wickets tumbled at the other end to 91/4. Jadeja bagged his third wicket of the match as he dismissed Mayank Agarwal for 2 in the 14th over of the game.
Klaasen showed some resistance and kept piling runs while Marco Jansen played an anchor role. The resistance from the Proteas batter, however, finally ended at the hands of Matheesha Pathirana. After troubling Klaasen with a sequence of intelligent deliveries, Pathirana finally outfoxed the troublesome batter and had him caught at cover.
Washington Sundar then came out to bat. However, some sensible batting by Sundar and Marco Jansen in the last two overs ensured that their team post a respectable total of 134/7 on board.
Brief score: Sunrisers Hyderabad 134/7 (Abhishek Sharma 34, Rahul Tripathi 21; Ravindra Jadeja 3-22) vs Chennai Super Kings 138/3 (Devon Conway 77*, Ruturaj Gaikwad 35; Mayank Markande 2-23). (ANI)