The night’s turning point was obvious to Stephen Fleming.
“I thought Brevis was outstanding. We were probably victim to a match-winning catch,” the CSK head coach said after their fourth consecutive defeat at Chepauk.
He was talking about a catch made by ambidextrous spinner Kamindu Mendis, who had just been hit for three sixes in an over by Dewald Brevis. In addition to dismissing a furious and on-song Brevis, Kamindu’s flying full-length dive to his left at long-off—dubbed “like a football goalie” by Cricbuzz—also severely damaged CSK’s innings.
“Look, I think it’s just instinct,” SRH head coach Daniel Vettori said of the catch. “It’s an innate ability to be able to move, to see the ball and time you’re diving. So it’s probably one of those catches that even a brilliant fielder only has one or two in their career.
Brevis had appeared to be just another middle-order experiment at 17 off 17 balls. Checked drives directly to the fielder, a couple singles, and a few dot balls. Brevis found his range after the Chennai Super Kings needed much more on a difficult ground.
What CSK had been lacking this season was revealed by Kamindu’s three sixes in a single over, which were hammered over long-on, deep midwicket, and long-off. In the middle overs, they needed someone—anyone—to take down spin. Their designated hitter, Shivam Dube, is not playing well. The event has excluded Ruturaj Gaikwad, who might have served as the anchor. Furthermore, despite all of his advantages, Ravindra Jadeja has never been the one to control spinners.
Brevis’s eyes didn’t even bother tracking the ball after one of his immaculate sixes; the bat swing informed him it was sufficient. It seemed as though CSK was finally moving in the direction of a par score when he stood tall and smacked Harshal Patel’s off-pace bouncer over cover for another spectacular six. Perhaps even a successful one.
However, Kamindu’s magical moment turned the tide. With one ball remaining in their innings, the hosts had to settle for 154 all out as the innings never truly recovered. Despite some trepidation, Sunrisers Hyderabad managed to chase it down with five wickets remaining, condemning CSK to their worst-ever IPL home run and tying four defeats in Chepauk.
“It was going well. That was an outstanding catch,” he said. “We had Riyan Parag in a game at Guwahati who took a great catch as well. So a couple of key moments there that they earned and did well. But then it was two teams that were nervous about winning, going hammer and tongs on a tough wicket. It was tough to watch.”
Vettori agreed with Fleming that the catch was crucial, and he acknowledged that if Brevis had lingered longer, the target might have been out of reach.
“Special moment, that catch, but more importantly for us, it was the moment in the game where Brevis was starting to take control, putting a lot of pressure back on us,” Vettori said. “And if he’d stayed in, probably the score would have gotten away from us and it would have been a difficult chase.
“Even during our bowling innings, there were some times where we felt dew was becoming an issue. I think you saw Zeeshan wiping the ball. So to get through that, and particularly to break that partnership. Brevis was looking fantastic, took the game on and started to show what you could do on that surface when you put pressure back on bowlers. So the catch by Kamindu and then the bowling to follow that up, I think that led to the ability to restrict that score.”
After the game, MS Dhoni said that Brevis’ counterattack had given CSK a solid platform, particularly against spin when the field was stretched out. However, he lamented that the other batters were unable to take advantage of it and were left a few runs short.
“I feel we could have run slightly better and put a few more runs on the board,” Dhoni said at the post-match presentation. “We were short by 15-20 runs.
“He [Brevis] batted really well, and we need something like that in the middle order. Where we have slightly struggled is when the spinners come in, that’s the time we need to either… pick up your areas where you’re scoring or try to play the big shot once in your area. So, I feel that’s where we have been lacking. We have not been able to dominate or get runs against the spinners at a good pace in the middle.”
That’s the way T20 cricket works in the end. It only took one game-winning catch to highlight how narrow the margins are and how far they still have to go, despite all the effort CSK put in, whether it was by fielding the second-youngest opening combination in the IPL or giving Brevis the CSK cap.
