CHENNAI: Devon Conway’s unbeaten 77 off 57 balls helped Chennai Super Kings beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets in an IPL match on Friday after a brilliant performance by their spin bowlers led by Ravindra Jadeja. Sunrisers Hyderabad could only manage 134 runs for seven wickets when sent to bat first. In response, Chennai scored 138 runs for three wickets with eight balls remaining.
New Zealand’s Conway remained unbeaten on 77 off 57 balls with the help of 12 fours and a six. At the same time, Ruturaj Gaikwad scored 35 runs in 30 balls which included two fours. Conway and Gaikwad shared an 87-run partnership for the first wicket. Both added 50 runs in the powerplay. With this win, Chennai has moved to the third spot with eight points from six matches.
Rajasthan Royals and Lucknow Super Giants also have eight points from six matches but they are in first and second place due to better run-rate. Sunrisers are ninth among the 10 teams with four points from six matches. Earlier, the Chennai bowlers did not allow the Sunrisers to play freely while performing well. Jadeja took three wickets for 22 runs.
Abhishek Sharma scored maximum 34 runs for Sunrisers. Harry Brook (18) and Sharma added 35 runs for the first wicket, while Sharma and Rahul Tripathi (21) shared a 36-run partnership for the second wicket. No significant partnership could be forged in the middle order and the Hyderabad batsmen failed to increase the pace.
Jadeja and Mahish Teekshana kept the Sunrisers batsmen tied. Mahendra Singh Dhoni got the spinners bowling continuously from the seventh to the 15th over. Jadeja sent Sharma, Tripathi and Mayank Agarwal (two) to the pavilion. Such was the dominance of the spinners that after 10.3 overs, the Sunrisers batsmen could not hit a boundary for the next six overs.
Brook hit Tushar Deshpande for two fours but returned by giving a catch to Ruturaj Gaikwad off Akash Singh. Sharma, who hit Singh for the first six in the third over, hit three fours and a six in his innings but became Jadeja’s first victim. Ajinkya Rahane took a good catch in the deep. At the same time, Agarwal once avoided being caught by Jadeja’s ball but could not take advantage of this lifeline. Dhoni stumped on Jadeja’s ball and sent him to the pavilion.
