By Neil Manthorp.
Devon ‘unbeaten 77 from 57 balls led the Chennai Super Kings to a straightforward seven-wicket victory with 14 balls to spare against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in their IPL match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday.
The Sunrisers stumbled from a promising 71 for one before the halfway mark to post a below-par total of 134 for seven in the face of some excellent, all-round bowling from CSK and the former South African-born opener made certain of a comfortable victory.
An opening stand of 87 all-but sealed victory and it was only broken when Ruturaj Gaikwad was run out at the non-striker’s end by a deflection off bowler Umrak Malik’s hand. Gaikwad played the anchor role with 35 from 30 balls.
Ajinkya Rahane (9) endured a rare failure and Ambati Rayudu (9) was bowled by offspinner Mayank Markande with just 13 runs required from the final three overs but there were no last-minute jitters with Conway fashioning a dozen fours and one six.
Earlier Englishman Harry Brook (18) was well caught at backward point off left-arm seamer Akash Singh but fellow opener Abhishek Sharma looked well set with 34 from 26 balls (3×4, 1×6) in the company of Rahul Tripathi who made a run-a-ball 21.
But the brilliant Ravindra Jadeja dismissed them both in successive overs to change the course of the innings, both caught in the deep. Aiden Markram (12 off 12) was well caught by MS Dhoni off Sri Lankan mystery spinner Mahesh Theekshana’s carrom ball while Heinrich Klaasen (17 off 16) holed out against another Sri Lankan, Lasith Malinga clone Matheesha Pathirana.
Marco Jansen struggled desperately in the final overs when acceleration was needed, finishing with a bleak, unbeaten 17 from 22 balls with just a single four.
Jadeja, as he so often is, was the standout bowler for CSK with 3-22 from his four overs although Theekshana (4-0-27-1) and Pathirana (4-0-22-1) were no less impressive. Dhoni added a lightning-sharp stumping to his catch proving that, though his batting may have faded, the 42-year-old’s reflexes behind the stumps are as sharp as ever.
The home side now move into a share of the log lead with the Rajasthan Royals and Lucknow Super Giants with eight points from their four victories while the Sunrisers drop into ninth place with just two wins from six games.
CHENNAI SUPER KINGS: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Ajinkya Rahane, Shivam Dube, Ambati Rayudu, Moeen Ali, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (capyain & wkt), Maheesh Theekshana, Tushar Deshpande, Matheesha Pathirana
SUNRISERS HYDERABAD: Harry Brook, Mayank Agarwal, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram (captain), Heinrich Klaasen (wkt), Abhishek Sharma, Washington Sundar, Marco Jansen, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, Umran Malik.