“In sport, there’s nothing more satisfying than hearing a big crowd go silent.” Pat Cummins delivered this famous quote ahead of the World Cup final against India. On Friday, Cummins silenced another crowd, this time his own home crowd in the Indian Premier League.
A near 36,000 crowd, most of which was comprised of fans in yellow shirts who had flocked to get a glimpse of their idol M.S.Dhoni witnessed Sunrisers Hyderabad come out all guns blazing to deflate Chennai Super Kings by six wickets and 11 balls to spare.
The dice was heavily loaded in Chennai’s favour but Cummins led his side in a cool and calm fashion to maintain Sunrisers’ unbeaten run at home.
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After a disciplined bowling act saw the Sunrisers restrict Chennai to 165/5 in 20 overs, the SRH openers pulled the trigger straightaway, racing to a fiery start. The architect for a blazing start was once again Abhishek Sharma. SRH posted 78 runs in the PowerPlay, it’s third highest this season. Travis Head was handed an early reprieve after the opener was dropped on nought off Deepak Chahar in the second delivery of the innings.
Abhishek’s blade then tore apart the Chennai attack as he smashedMukesh Choudhary for 27 runs in the second over. Chahar ended Abhishek’s fireworks, who fell for a 12-ball 37, but the damage was done.
Travis Head was then joined by Aiden Markram and the duo stitched a crucial 60-run stand off 42 deliveries. However Maheesh Theekshana broke the stand by dismissing Head whose attempt at a sweep went straight to Ravindra Jadeja at backward square leg.
Chennai slowed down the pace of Sunrisers’ scoring with tight lines which saw the boundaries drying up in the middle phase. Markram reached his fifty in 35 balls but had to walk back soon after, trapped leg before by Moeen Ali, with a review burned in the process.
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It was a cat-and-mouse game from there on after Heinrich Klaasen joined Shahbaz Ahmed. CSK stuck to its template of introducing a range of bowling changes, with the likes of Rachin Ravindra also getting a go. These changes helped CSK extract the most out of a slow Hyderabad surface.
Moeen then picked his second wicket by trapping Shahbaz Ahmed, triggering jitters in the Sunrisers camp with the home side still needing 23 runs from 24 balls.
The onus then fell on Nitish Reddy and Klassen. The 20-year-old ended SRH’s six-over boundary drought sweeping Jadeja for four after which Klaasen launched Tushar Deshpande over extra cover to take the game away from Chennai. Nitish sealed the win with a monstrous six straight down the ground in the first ball of the 19th over.
Opting to bowl, Sunrisers opened with the left-arm spin of Abhishek Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s pace. The latter removed Ravindra inside the PowerPlay for his first wicket of the season.
Rahane teed off on arrival by clubbing Pat Cummins over long-on for six. Ruturaj ended the PowerPlay on a rich note going straight over the bowler’s head for six.
Shahbaz Ahmed broke the 29-run stand between the pair but Shivam Dube was at his attacking best. He started with a six over long on followed by a brilliant cover drive which put the host under pressure.
The Dube show continued as he muscled Markande over deep square leg even as Rahane dropped anchor at the other end. After a couple of quiet overs, Dube freed his arms, hammering T. Natarajan for two consecutive sixes over deep mid-wicket to bring up the team 100 for Chennai in 68 deliveries.
Cummins claimed his 50th IPL wicket removing Dube and breaking a 65-run third wicket stand in the process. The SRH skipper took the pace off the ball and dug into the surface with Dube guiding the ball straight to Bhuvneshwar at backward point.
Slower deliveries did the trick for SRH as Jaydev Unadkat removed Rahane. Cummins and Unadkat bowled in tandem and choked Chennai’s run flow with their variation of pace. Both bowlers finished with identical figures of 1/29 in their four overs.
Bhuvneshwar made a strong comeback after a lacklustre start by registering figures of 4-0-28-1. Emotions were high as the stadium reverberated with the ear-splitting chants of ‘Dhoni! Dhoni!’ when the former CSK skipper with his long locks made his way to the centre after Daryl Mitchell’s dismissal with three balls left in the innings. He remained unbeaten having scored a solitary run.
Prior to the game, Chennai had won 14 out of the 19 games played against this opponent however, Cummins and Co. pegged one back in the Hyderabad franchise’s favour.
