The West Indian produced a superb all round display helping his team to victory
Dwayne Smith of The Chennai Superkings plays a shot during an IPL 7 match against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Sharjah (Photo : PTI)
Sharjah: Chennai Super Kings overcame some anxious moments before huffing and puffing to a five-wicket win over a fighting Sunrisers Hyderabad in a thrilling Indian Premier League Twenty20 cricket match, here on Sunday.
Chasing 146 for their fourth win in a row, Chennai achieved the target with three balls to spare as openers Dwayne Smith (66) and Brendon McCullum (40) laid a solid foundation with their 85-run partnership in 10.5 overs. Smith and McCullum made batting look easy as they struck the ball effortlessly even as all other batsmen struggled on a difficult wicket.
Chennai were cruising at one stage, needing just 22 runs from the last five overs with eight wickets in hand but young Indian paceman Bhuvaneshwar Kumar changed the complexion of the game by dismissing Smith and Faf du Plessis (0) in consecutive deliveries in the 16th over. Ishant Sharma got rid of Ravindra Jadeja in the 19th over to cause ripples in the Chennai camp.
CSK needed six runs off the last over, bowled by Amit Mishra, and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni finished it off in style, dismissing a full toss to square leg boundary.
Smith anchored the CSK chase with his 46-ball knock.
Chennai had control over the contest for the most part but for the last two overs of the Hyderabad innings when their bowlers took a beating to concede 32 runs and later in the final overs of their own innings.
It was Australian batsman Aaron Finch’s fighting 44-run knock and a splendid rearguard action that propelled Hyderbad to a competitive 145 for five. The Australian batsman held the one end when wickets fell consistently from the other before departing in the fag end.
Finch added 52 runs for the third wicket with Lokesh Rahul (25) and had it not been for some lusty hits by Darren Sammy (23 not out) and Karan Sharma (17 not out) towards the end, Hyderabad would not have posted a decent total.
Scorecard:
Sunrisers Hyderabad: A. Finch b Mohit 44, S. Dhawan c Manhas b Hilfenhaus 7, D. Warner lbw b Hilfenhaus 0, KL Rahul c Pandey b Smith 25, Y. Venugopal Rao c Smith b Mohit 13, D. Sammy (not out) 23, Karn Sharma (not out) 17. Extras (b5, lb8, w3) 16. Total (for five wickets in 20 overs) 145.
FoW: 1-15, 2-15, 3-67, 4-98, 5-109.
Bowling: Hilfenhaus 4-0-32-2, Pandey 3-0-22-0, Mohit 4-0-27-2, Ashwin 4-0-17-0, Jadeja 3-0-23-0, Smith 2-0-11-1.
Chennai Super Kings: D.R. Smith c Warner b Kumar 66, B.B. McCullum b K.V. Sharma 40, S. Raina c Venugopal Rao b I Sharma 14, M.S. Dhoni (not out) 13, F.du. Plessis c Rahul b Kumar 0, R.A. Jadeja b I. Sharma 6, M. Manhas (not out) 3. Extras (lb 4) 4. Total (for 5 wickets in 19.3 overs) 146
FoW: 1-85, 2-114, 3-126, 4-127, 5-138.
Bowling: Dale Steyn 4-0-20-0, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4-0-23-2, K.V. Sharma 4-0-35-1, Amit Mishra 3.3-0-27-0, Ishant Sharma 4-0-37-2
( Source : PTI )
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