IPL 2019
IPL 2019: Match 41 (CSK vs SRH): Shane Watson Got His Form Back At The Right Time
By CricShots - Apr 24, 2019 12:30 am
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The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) lost two matches in a row in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). However, MS Dhoni and his men made a fabulous comeback with a six-wicket win against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. With the triumph, CSK also became the first team to qualify for the playoffs with the help of a phenomenal knock from Shane Watson. SRH remained in the fourth position.

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Manish Pandey scored his first fifty of IPL 2019

During the toss, the SRH toss, Bhuvneshwar Kumar said that they have made two changes in their squad as Manish Pandey and Shakib Al Hasan replaced Kane Williamson and Shahbaz Nadeem in the squad. However, CSK made just one change as Shardul Thakur made way for the veteran Harbhajan Singh.

WATCH – Tired David Warner Messes With MS Dhoni’s Fast Hands

Harbhajan Singh’s inclusion paid rich dividends for CSK as he picked the first two wickets for them. Firstly, he dismissed Bairstow in the 2nd over followed by the wicket of David Warner in the 14th over. After the early dismissal of Bairstow, Manish Pandey and Warner started slogging the CSK bowlers all over the park. They amassed as many as 54 runs in the powerplay and surprisingly, Manish was scoring at the higher strike-rate. 

WATCH – Manish Pandey Gives A Huge Scare To Deepak Chahar

Pandey and Warner added 111 runs for the second wicket before the latter getting out in the 14th over as he was looking tired as well due to the intense humidity of Chennai. However, despite some later fireworks of Pandey (49-ball 83) and Vijay Shankar, SRH only managed to reach the total of 175/3 in their quota of 20 overs as Shankar played a bit slow as per the expectations.

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Shane Watson played a brilliant knock

During the chase, Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis started cautiously as they scored the first run on the 11th ball of the innings. However, in the next over, the latter got run-out owing to a brilliant throw from Deepak Hooda. After his dismissal, Suresh Raina came out to bat and he started smashing the SRH bowlers. His real carnage came in the final over of powerplay when he smashed Sandeep Sharma for 22 runs with help of 4 fours and a six. 

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Raina was dismissed by Rashid Khan’s brilliant googly in the 10th over. After his dismissal, Watson kept on smashing the SRH bowlers as he amassed as many as 96 runs from 53 balls before getting out in the 18th over of Bhuvneshwar Kumar owing to a brilliant catch from Bairstow.

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After Watson’s dismissal, CSK needed 9 runs in the final over and Ambati Rayudu and Kedar Jadhav were batting at the crease and the latter smashed the six on the second ball and the hosts went past the line with a ball to spare and 6 wickets in hand despite Rayudu getting out in the final over.

Brief Score:

Chennai Super Kings – 176/4 in 19.5 overs (S Watson: 96, S Raina: 38; B Kumar: 1/18) defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad – 175/3 in 20 overs (M Pandey: 83*, D Warner: 57; H Singh: 2/39) by 6 wickets and a ball to spare

Here is how Twitter reacted to CSK’s win: