The Indian Premier League!: Match-34, CSK vs SRH, M.A.Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai

MATCH-34

CSK VS SRH

Venue- M.A.Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
Match Officials- A.Dar, S. Das, C.Shamsuddin(Umpires), A. Pycroft(Refree)

Toss- SRH won the toss and chose to bat first!

Result- CSK won by 5 wickets and 2 balls to spare!

Man Of The Match- M.S. DHONI

Match Report-

Cameron White(SRH) won the toss and chose to bat first in Chennai! Quinton de Kock, after hitting a boundary on previous ball, got out on the bowling of Mohit Sharma on the 3rd ball of the inning. Uncapped player Hanuma Vihari was run out on the last ball of the 2nd ball, courtesy, direct hit from covers by Raina. With White and Dhawan trying to get themselves in, SRH were 13/2 after 3 overs. Dhawan opened up a little after that hitting 4 fours in space of just 8 balls. But Mohit Sharma striked again as he got rid of Cameron White, caught behind in 5th over. Amit Mishra was promoted up the order. Shikhar Dhawan was ticking away with singles. But Mishra's stay of 5 overs on the pitch was ended by Ashwin. Mishra got out on 15(22) to leave his side in trouble 62/4 in 10 overs. Debutant Sargunam joined Dhawan. But the debutant strggled to score the runs. 82/4 after 13 overs, Dhawan was the key man for SRH. In next over, on bowling of Bravo, Dhawan was injured and he had to walk off the field, retired hurt. Darren Sammy came in and hit couple of boundaries. Bravo took the wicket of Sargunam in 16. But in the 17th over, SRH scored 15 runs. But in very next over Bravo got rid of Sammy 19(12)! Dhawan came back in again, and straight away hit Bravo for couple of boundaries to complete his 50! With 2 overs left, SRH were 126/6 ! They scored 33 runs off the last 2 overs, bowled by Mohit Sharma and Bravo. Aashish Reddy- 36(16) and Dhawan- 63(45) were not out, to post a total of 159/6 in 20 overs.

With 160 to chase, M.Hussey and Vijay started off well. Being cautious for couple of overs they took the attack to the opposition. Scoring 58/0 in first 6 was a good start! Karan Sharma bowled a good 7th over, giving away just 2 runs. And that pressure got to Vijay, who was half way down to Mishra, missing the ball completely, stumped by Kock! Hussey was gone in 10th over, again the bowler was Mishra. M.Hussey 45(26) was caught by the keeper Kock. Steyn was given his 2nd over, as soon as Dhoni walked in at no.4. On the 5th ball of that over, with Dhoni batting on zero, Steyn bowled a fast bouncer, which went straight up in the air, taking Dhoni's bat's edge, but on the fine leg boundary, Amit Mishra misjudged and dropped! In 13th over, bowled by Sammy Dhoni got going by hitting 2 fours. With 62 needed in last 7 overs, Raina[16(13)] went for a hike and held on at long on. Bravo walked in to join Dhoni. With 46 needed of last 5 overs, Karan Sharma bowled a maiden over to Bravo who ended his spell with 4-1-8-0! Dale Steyn was brought back into the attack, Dhoni hit him for 2 sixes on first 2 balls to ease of the pressure. Bravo who was struggling got out in 18th over. At that time CSK required 30 off 16 balls. In last 2 overs, requiring 28, Dhoni again hit Steyn for 13 runs, but Steyn bowled last 2 balls dot, one of which was wicket of Jadeja. White threw the ball to Aashish Reddy to bowl the final over and defend 15 runs. He was clearly under pressure, as he bowled couple of balls down the leg side. Dhoni [67(37)] scored those runs in 4 balls, as CSK won by 5 wickets and 2 balls to spare.

My Views-

First of all, Mohit Sharma started brilliantly by ball. Then Shikhar Dhawan batted well with little cameos from Sammy and Aashish Reddy to get to a respectable total.
CSK struggled in death overs, as they gave away too many runs.
CSK started their batting innings nicely. Vijay and especially Hussey made full use of the powerplay overs. After they lost wickets at regular intervals. Bravo played a crucial maiden over, which put extra pressure on MSD. But he hit the world's best fast bowler "Steyn" for plenty and made sure they win the match. He made full use of a dropped catch by Mishra.