IPL 2018 Playoffs, CSK vs SRH: Hits and Misses
It was tipped to be a mouth-watering clash as the table-toppers clashed in the first Qualifier and it lived up to its billing. CSK won a hum-dinger as they held nerve in the end and qualified for their 7th IPL final.
MS Dhoni won the toss and had no hesitation in bowling first. And the CSK bowlers justified their captain’s decision as they had SRH reeling at 50/4.
None of the SRH top-order batsmen got going, and they also had a couple of unlucky dismissals. Kane Williamson who was looking in fine touch was strangled down leg and so was Shakib Al Hasan.
Yusuf Pathan tried to resurrect the innings but even he fell after scoring a 29-ball 24. At 88/6 in 15 overs, SRH were staring down the barrel, but Carlos Braithwaite struck a timely 29-ball 43 as he targeted Shardul Thakur and took the ‘Men in Orange’ to 139 at the end of 20 overs.
In reply, CSK were also off to a similar start as Shane Watson was out to a beauty from Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
But Suresh Raina calmed the nerves with a quick-fire 22, but Siddarth Kaul brought SRH back in the game with two wickets in two balls.
Rashid Khan then went through MS Dhoni’s defences as CSK slipped to 39/4. That soon turned into 62/6 and things looked slim for CSK.
But Faf du Plessis batted through and kept CSK in the hunt. He plundered 20 runs in the 18th over before Shardul Thakur took everyone by surprise, as he hit Siddarth Kaul for three fours to reduce the equation to just 6 off 6.
Faf du Plessis then finished off the chase with a six, as CSK went through to the final as they won a thrilling game by 2 wickets and 5 balls to spare.
#5 Miss: SRH top-order
Despite having some decent players in the middle-order, the SRH middle-order has been fragile this season. Hence, top-order has done the bulk of the run-scoring this season and have taken a lot more responsibility. In fact, Kane Williamson and Shikhar Dhawan have scored more than 1100 runs combined.
The duo were the fulcrum of the SRH batting line-up. However, on the big day, they failed in unison. Shikhar Dhawan was out first ball of the game, as he dragged a short of length delivery off Deepak Chahar back onto his stumps. His poor run in the playoffs of the IPL continued.
On the other hand, Shreevats Goswami continued to open the batting alongside Dhawan after SRH opted to persist with Carlos Braithwaite, leaving out Alex Hales. However, he struggled against the pace of Lungi Ngidi and eventually fell to the South African quick for 12.
The biggest loss for the ‘Men in Orange’ was that of Kane Williamson. The SRH skipper walked out to the middle on the second delivery of the game.
However, he seemed to be in the zone as, despite the early loss of Dhawan, he struck three elegant boundaries in the first over.
He looked in terrific touch and was timing the ball beautifully. But he was out in the 5th over as he was strangled down leg-side off Shardul Thakur. It was a bad ball and should’ve been put away but Williamson gloved it to Dhoni and was out for 24.
In a crunch game, SRH’s top-order failed to deliver and the top three were knocked over early (they were 36/3).