IPL 2019: SRH vs CSK - Warner and Bairstow lead hosts to a comfortable six-wicket win
Sunrisers Hyderabad returned to winning ways as they defeated table toppers Chennai Super Kings by six wickets at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on Wednesday.
Chennai Super Kings' stand-in captain Suresh Raina won the toss and decided to bat first. Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis began on a cautious note before putting pressure on Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers. At the end of six overs, both openers took CSK to 41 for 0.
After the power play overs, Watson and du Plessis played with positive intent. As things were looking good for CSK, Shahbaz Nadeem struck by dismissing Watson for 31. The openers added 79 runs for the opening wicket. On the other end, Vijay Shankar got the wicket of du Plessis.
Rashid Khan then dismissed Suresh Raina and Kedar Jadhav in the same over to halt the progress of CSK. In the last 5 overs, Ambati Rayudu and Ravindra Jadeja scored just 30 runs which helped SRH restrict CSK to a modest total of 132 for 5 in 20 overs. For SRH, Rashid Khan took 2 for 17, Khaleel Ahmed, Shankar, and Nadeem took 1 wicket each.
Chasing a target of 133 runs to win, Jonny Bairstow and David Warner provided a flying start, putting pressure on CSK's new ball bowlers. Warner reached his fifty off just 25 balls but was soon dismissed by Deepak Chahar for 50. At the end of six overs, SRH had scored 68 for 1.
After the power play was over, Bairstow played with positive intent with attacking strokes putting the CSK bowlers to the sword. Kane Williamson and Shankar failed to contribute much to the score. It was an amazing display of batting by Bairstow who reached his fifty off 39 balls and also hit the winning shot. SRH won the match by six wickets with 19 balls to spare.
SRH 137 for 4 in 16.5 overs ( Bairstow 61, Warner 50, Imran Tahir 2/20) beat CSK 132 for 5 in 20 overs ( Faf du Plessis 45, Watson 31, Rashid Khan 2/17) by 6 wickets.