Shane Watson’s 96 helped CSK defeat the visitors and reclaim their spot at the top of the table.
The Aussie opener, who was on the brink of losing his spot in the team courtesy of a below-par season so far, turned up with a gem of a knock which propelled CSK to a crucial win after losing 2 successive games.
The Yellow Army returned to the MA Chidambaram stadium after a string of away games. MS Dhoni was yet again lucky with the coin and elected to bowl first. Captain Cool named a solitary change by recalling Harbhajan Singh in place of Shardul Thakur.
Meanwhile, Bhuvneshwar Kumar returned to captain the side in place of Kane Williamson. SRH had a woeful start after losing in-form opener Jonny Bairstow for a duck. This would mark the wicket-keeper’s final outing in the IPL this season. Manish Pandey, who was recalled into the side after a brief absence made his inclusion count with an unbeaten knock of 83.
David Warner too made his presence known with his 7th fifty of the tournament. However, despite these knocks, the Orange Army failed to get going in the death overs and handed CSK a target of 176 to scale down.
Super Kings’ woes at the top order continued with Faf Du Plessis’ early dismissal courtesy of sharp fielding. Suresh Raina and Shane Watson build a crucial partnership and kept the scoreboard ticking. Watson upped his ante after Raina’s dismissal but was dismissed for 96 towards the end of the innings. Watson fell four short of his fourth IPL hundred.
Despite facing some hiccups at the end of the innings with Rayudu struggling in particular, Kedar Jadhav’s cool mind ensured CSK earn the two points to leave them close to a spot in the playoffs with 3 games to go.
Brief Scorecard
SRH 175-3 (20 overs) (M.Pandey 83*; H.Singh 2-39)
CSK 176-4 (19.5 overs) (S.Watson 96; B.Kumar 1-18)
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