Ruturaj Gaikwad and Mukesh Choudhary marked their return to home turf in style while Devon Conway gave his Indian Premier League franchise a perfect return gift for his wedding as Chennai Super Kings scored a 13-run win against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the MCA Stadium on Sunday.
Riding on a record 182-run opening partnership — CSK’s highest-ever in the IPL, eclipsing the unbroken 181 between Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis against Kings XI Punjab in Dubai in October 2020 — Super Kings scored a mammoth 202 for two.
Mukesh then didn’t let his poor fielding — he dropped a sitter from Abhishek Sharma off Maheesh Theekshana — spoil his confidence with the ball. The left-arm pacer registered his best T20 figures (four for 46) to seal the deal.
Vital strikes
Mukesh’s strikes off successive balls in the last two balls of the PowerPlay — Abhishek Sharma holed out to long-on and Rahul Tripathi to short third-man — gave Super Kings the edge. The pacer had to wait till the 18th over for his hat-trick ball. Even though Shashank Singh struck him over mid-off to thwart it, Mukesh took two more wickets in the same over.
The Super Kings spin trio of Ravindra Jadeja, Theekshana and Mitchell Santner produced an impressive performance on a strip that offered turn.
While skipper M.S. Dhoni used them for 10 overs combined, the lack of a quality spinner haunted the Sunrisers as the Chennai openers made merry against the pacers.
Washington Sundar, the lone specialist spinner in the Sunrisers ranks, injured his bowling hand in the fourth over while trying to stop a Ruturaj pull on the square-leg boundary. His absence forced skipper Kane Williamson to use Aiden Markram and Shashank for four overs and it cost the side 46 runs.
Boundaries galore
The way Ruturaj waded into pace-bowling sensation Umran Malik was a treat to watch. The 13 deliveries the pacer bowled to the opener fetched 33, including two sixes and four fours. Though there was a streaky boundary over the ’keeper, Ruturaj dominated the pacer. The lofted drive through long-on was the highlight of the night.
While Ruturaj slowed down after racing into the 70s by the 12th over, Conway, who was relatively quiet until then, took over. The Kiwi displayed his ability to clear the boundary as well as caress the ball through the gaps. This was a day when the openers and CSK hardly put a foot wrong.
