MS Dhoni-less Chennai Super Kings (CSK) couldn’t keep their winning streak on as Sunrisers Hyderabad won the game by six wickets. Dhoni was rested for the game as he has been suffering from a back problem for the last two matches against Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders. However, Chennai has already won seven out of first eight matches so they decided to rest Dhoni for recovery. In Dhoni’s absence, Suresh Raina led the side. However, with 14 points, they are still at the top of the point table so yesterday’s loss didn’t matter much.
MS Dhoni has been in a pretty good form in this ongoing season of Indian Premier League (IPL). He is also the highest run-getter with 230 runs, including 2 fifties so far. Yesterday, the team certainly missed their captain as Sunrisers Hyderabad beat them comfortably with 19 balls remaining. However, Chennai got off to a steady start after winning the toss and chose to bat first.
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Both the openers, Faf du Plessis and Shane Watson added 79 runs in 9.5 overs. After that, things started changing so fast as both the openers fell for consecutive overs. Later, Rashid Khan struck twice in one over and dismantled the middle order. Hence, Chennai could only manage to put up 132 runs on board after 20 overs. In front of a strong bowling line up, the defending champions scored a mere 30 runs in last five overs and managed to score only 52 runs in the last 10 overs and the total became their lowest total as well in this season so far while batting first.
In reply, the Sunrisers chased down the total with ease. Openers David Warner (50) and Jonny Bairstow struck half-centuries and added 66 runs before Warner hot dismissed in the final over of the powerplay. But Bairstow anchored the chase till the end, scoring an unbeaten 61 and guided Hyderabad to get past the line within 17 overs. With this win, Sunrisers jumped up to fifth place in the point table.
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After the completion of the game, it was seen that MS Dhoni came out from the dugout and started talking with David Warner and a few Hyderabad players. Here is the video where Dhoni was in a conversation with the players.
#Thala at the epicentre of the huddle to discuss the #Yellove and much more about the game! #WhistlePodu #SRHvCSK 🦁💛 pic.twitter.com/6OAq7Ivipy
— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) April 17, 2019
