Both Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad were coming off losses as they clashed in Match number 29 of IPL 2020 in Dubai.
Winning the toss, CSK skipper MS Dhoni elected to bat – the first time Chennai batted first this season.
Chennai, which has been criticised in the past for a dogged and unchanging approach to the game with a team made up of ‘older’ players, went in for a more daring and brave batting approach on Tuesday night.
To start with, they changed their opening combination by sending the young Sam Curran out with Faf du Plessis.
Chennai lost du Plessis for a duck in the 3d over but Curran made sure he took advantage of the promotion to opener.
Smacking seamer Khaleel Ahmed for two fours and two sixes in the fourth over, Curran was sent packing by Sandeep Sharma in the fifth over with CSK at 35/2 after 4.4 overs.
Shane Watson and Ambati Rayudu rode their good fortune – Rayudu dropped by Jonny Bairstow on 9 and Watson on 20 by Rashid Khan – with the duo adding 81 off 64 balls.
Rayudu (41 off 34 balls) and Watson (42 off 38 balls) fell in successive overs, being dismissed by Ahmed and T Natarajan respectively. CSK 120/4 after 16.2 overs.
A quickfire 21 off 13 by Dhoni and 25 off 10 by Ravindra Jadeja meant that Chennai managed 48 runs in their last four overs, pushing the score to 167/6 at the end of 20 overs.
Sam Curran made an impact with the ball as well, dismissing Sunrisers skipper David Warner in the fourth over for 9 – the first time Warner has got out in the powerplay this season.
Manish Pandey fell in the same over – run out for 4. SRH 27/2.
Jonny Bairstow was scoring slowly but was holding up the other end before he was cleaned up by Jadeja – Sunrisers 60/3, needing 108 off the last 10 overs.
Kane Williamson at one stage looked like he might be the hero of the night and take Hyderabad home, especially as wickets kept falling at the other end of the crease.
He started slowly but began finding his rhythm and ended up making a 36-ball half-century.
He was eventually dismissed for 57 off 39 balls in the 18th over, SRH 126/6 at this stage.
Rashid Khan added a moment of panic for CSK when he hit 14 off 8 balls.
However, Shardul Thakur and Dwayne Bravo defended 26 runs in the last two overs, giving Chennai a much-needed 20 run victory.
This is only Chennai’s third win in eight games and they are currently in a threeway tie on 6 points in the bottom half of the points table with Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals.
Jadeja was named Man of the Match.
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