IPL 2020, CSK v SRH: Who won yesterday's match?
The Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) picked up their second win of IPL 2020 as young Abdul Samad held his nerves to defend 28 runs off the last over against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in match 14 at Dubai.
Needing 28 runs to win off the last over, SRH were forced to turn to either Samad or Abhishek Sharma to bowl the last six balls, with lead pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar walking off the field after picking up an injury at the start of the 18th over.
SRH skipper David Warner eventually tossed the ball to Samad, and the youngster started in disastrous fashion, spraying the ball down the leg side for five wides. However, he soon hit the right lengths, and eventually managed to restrict CSK to within seven runs of the total.
However, it was very early in the chase that CSK lost the momentum with Shane Watson chopping a delivery onto his stumps in just the third over.
Ambati Rayudu's return from injury lasted just nine deliveries as the right-hander was undone by a magical delivery from T Natarajan on the first ball of the 5th over. And, four balls later, Faf du Plessis was caught short of the crease by a throw from young Priyam Garg.
MS Dhoni walked in to bat at No.5, and at the halfway stage, CSK needed another 121 runs to get off the last ten overs. All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja struggled to get going initially, but ten runs off Natarajan's 14th over gave the Super Kings some momentum into the timeout.
Jadeja continued to produce a few lusty blows with four fours and a six in the space of 10 balls, before he was dismissed by Natarajan in the 18th over.
CSK did have an opportunity to make the most of an injury to Bhuvneshwar Kumar, as the SRH seamer hobbled off the ground after bowling just one ball of the penultimate over.
Although Dhoni was still at the crease, he was visibly winded with the weather conditions taking a toll on him. In the end, 28 runs off the last over was a tall task even for the CSK captain, and the three-time IPL champions fell short by seven runs.
SRH get off to a horrible start with the bat
Earlier, SRH skipper David Warner won the toss and opted to bat first, but they were pegged back early with Deepak Chahar castling Jonny Bairstow in the first over.
Manish Pandey (29) and Warner's 46-run partnership seemed to be setting the stage for some late hitting, until the former was removed by Shardul Thakur with the first ball of the 8th over.
The Hyderabad skipper's attempt to up the ante saw him hole out to Faf du Plessis off Piyush Chawla, and Kane Williamson followed his skipper off the next ball on the back of a misunderstanding between himself and Priyam Garg.
What followed was an exciting display of cricket as the young duo of Garg, and Abhishek Sharma made the most of some shabby fielding from CSK. Garg and Abhishek put on a 77-run stand off just 49 deliveries, before the southpaw fell to Chahar on the last ball of the 18th over.
Garg continued his merry ways and notched up a maiden IPL half-century with a flick for a single on the last ball of the 19th over. In the end, a good over from Thakur saw SRH scoring just seven runs off the final over as they finished with 164/5 from 20 overs.
IPL 2020: CSK v SRH, Who won man of the match yesterday?
One of the biggest striking features of the SRH innings was the batting display from the young duo of Priyam Garg and Abhishek Sharma.
While the likes of David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Manish Pandey and Kane Williamson's dismissals did set the cat among the pigeons in the SRH camp, the young duo showed maturity beyond their age.
Also read: Priyam Garg age, height, hometown, family & IPL salary
Garg, in particular, looked in good flow and even notched up his first-ever half-century in the IPL, a 26-ball 51 laced with six fours and one six.
And, for his efforts lower down the order, Priyam Garg was named as Man of the Match of yesterday's IPL match.