#CSKvsSRH SUMMARY
Dhoni in the last game after the loss against RCB told the batsmen are better off if they go for a big shot and get out rather than have too many runs in the last few overs. And it felt like it was coming, the aggression was coming.
CSK would have been relieved to have won the toss to set things going. Jagadeesan who looked promising in the previous game was dropped and Chawla was brought it who bowled only 1 over in the second innings.
Anyway, one could see the wonder boy Sam Curran walk out in the place of Watson. What could he do that Watson couldn’t do much? But given the success he had so far, he could actually pull off a magic here. DuPlessis, the orange cap contender, faced zero balls in the first 2 overs, and the 1st ball he faced, edged it, and was dismissed for a golden duck. His first since IPL 2014.
On the other hand, Sam initially having played out the first few balls, then dominated Khaleel with consecutive boundaries who kept bowling short one after the other. For a second it seemed as though Sam didn’t hold his shape, but he cleared the fence nevertheless. He made a quick 31 and was dismissed who set the tone for the upcoming batsmen. Watson and Rayudu played decently in the middle overs stitching a partnership, but it was the cameo of MS and Jadeja that got CSK the edge.
MS goes deep into his crease that he had to give some room to elevate the ball and launch it over long on for a 100m+ six, thus completing a classy pose with his weight transferred to the back foot making his front foot sole slightly lift up.
Natarajan, whose immediate goal was to dismiss Dhoni, accomplished it. When MS got out, I thought may be SRH did well there which could possibly have stopped 10 more extra runs, but Khaleel gave away 15 runs in the last over where Jadeja hit him for few boundaries. No one realised Jadeja actually ended up having a strike rate of 250.
I thought if CSK was to make a comeback, they couldn’t ask for more than facing a SRH. If D Chahar swings and knocks that top order, then it will be a cakewalk for CSK, I believed so.
In the 3rd over, Warner got out in an unfortunate way, caught off after the ball from his bat edge went on to hit his pad and popped up. To add fuel to the fire, Manish was run out the same over itself.
Now CSK was lit up. They were on the move. The lazy lion has finally woken up. Williamson and Bairstow steadied the ship for a while till the 10th over. Jadeja with his round arm action gripped one to turn away, and Bairstow who was at the striker’s end would have gulped his lump in his throat. The next ball didn’t spin, slid through, and hit the stumps. It was up to Williamson now who displayed few beautiful cricket shots over covers.
Priyam Garg, who should have taken few chances to free Kane some pressure, continued caressing the ball for 1s till the req. rate climbed to 13+. He finally takes that one aggressive chance and gets caught in the deep. That’s when Chawla bowls his only over in the 15th.
Vijay comes in who could have easily tried attacking Chawla since it was his first over. Chawla kind of errs his length and bowls a bit shorter. Vijay couldn’t have asked for an easy ball than this at that stage; he could have tonked it for a six. But, he takes a single. The req rate now slips to 15. And it’s unlikely they are gonna chase it with one boundary long, with no little contributions from others.
Shankar hits a six then perishes. Kane hits a boundary then perishes. Rashid comes, hits few boundaries only to make the match all tense but that wasn’t enough anyway. When the run rate is climbing, just hit the damn ball out. Not all can do a Tewatia.
CSK wins, a win that would mean a lot to them and the right momentum now is with them at the right time. Can this be their epic comeback or are they again going to go inside their shell? Time will tell.
The Cricket Story 