Chennai Super Kings maintained their good record by getting the better of Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPKl match her in Chennai. For Hyderabad, Shikhar Dhawan returned with 63 but his score was bettered by CSK captain MS Dhoni whose unbeaten 67 took the game away from the Deccan side.
Chasing a target of 160, the Super Kings once again won the match in the last over when Ashish Reddy bowled to MS Dhoni who took the required 15 runs from the over. With the win, Chennai have six wins out of eight matches while the Sunrisers Hyderabad have five from eight.
Playing his first match of the season, Dhawan smashed his way to a scintillating 63 as Sunrisers Hyderabad recovered from early jolts to post a competitive 159 for six.
Hyderabad scored 59 runs in the last four overs and that propelled them to a fighting total. Ashish Reddy played a very useful unbeaten cameo of 36 and his 43-run partnership with Dhawan was crucial in their revival.
Dhawan’s unbeaten knock came off 45 balls with 10 shots to the fence while Reddy’s 36 came off 16 balls with two fours and three sixes. Dhawan was out of field for some time after taking a ferocious hit on his groin off Dwayne Bravo and in that time Reddy did a pretty good job for his side.
At one time, it looked that there would be no end to Hyderabad’s batting woes but inclusion of Dhawan, who missed first seven games due to a hand fracture, lifted the side. More than the bowling it was exceptional fielding that gave Chennai two early wickets. Murali Vijay took a firmly-hit but uppish shot by Quinton de Kock (4) at mid-on off Mohit Sharma while Suresh Raina's direct hit from covers area sent back Hanuma Vihari (2).
Much depended Dhawan and the left-hander did not disappoint his side. He drove, pulled and cut effortlessly the Chennai pacers — Mohit and Holder. Dhawan carried on from where he had left while playing against Australia in India's Test series.
He unleashed a few boundaries to give provide impetuous to his side’s innings but lost Cameron (2) from the other end when his skipper edged one behind off Mohit.
Brief Scores
Hyderabad: 159 for 6 (Shikhar Dhawan 63 not out, Ashish Reddy 36 not out; M Sharma 2/33) beat Chennai: 160 for five in 19.4 overs. (M S Dhoni 67 not out, Michael Hussey 45; Amit Mishra 3/26) by 5 wickets.