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Chennai Super Kings recorded their ninth win in their 11th match, beating Sunrisers Hyderabad by six wickets. With this result, Chennai became the first team to secure a spot in the top four, while Sunrisers became the first team to be eliminated.
Chennai replaced Sam Curran with Dwayne Bravo, while Hyderabad went in unchanged. Sent to bat, Hyderabad did not have a great start. Their first two overs resulted in just five. Wriddhiman Saha hit two sixes in the third over, but Jason Roy, hero of the last match, was dismissed next over by Josh Hazlewood. Soon, Kane Williamson was dismissed leg before wicket by Bravo.
Saha was joined by young Priyam Garg, but the introduction of Ravindra Jadeja choked down the run rate. Bravo picked up his second wicket as Garg top-edged a pull. Ten balls later, Saha’s laboured 46-ball 44 came to an end, against Jadeja. M.S. Dhoni was sharp behind the stumps, and contributed in three out of first four wickets to fall.
The onus of scoring quickly fell on the young pair of Abdul Samad and Abhishek Sharma. They added runs in four overs, hitting a four and a six each. At one stage Hyderabad seemed set for 150, but the 17th over, bowled by Hazlewood, pegged them back. He dismissed both the batters for 18. Rashid khan hit a couple of fours, through past third and fine leg, to take the Hyderabad total to 134/7. Hazlewood finished with 3-24 and Bravo with 2-17.
There were not many doubts in Chennai completing the chase comfortably. Although the match went to the last over, they were in control for most of their innings. Ruturaj Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis added 75 in 10 overs. Gaikwad was the more attacking of the duo. He hit two sixes in his 38-ball 45 before being caught by Williamson while going for a lofted shot off Holder.
There was a two-over phase that provided Hyderabad with some hope. Rashid got Moeen Ali before Holder took out Suresh Raina and du Plessis, the latter for 41. At this stage, Chennai required 27 in 25 balls, but Ambati Rayudu and Dhoni batted sensibly to take them to the victory. Dhoni finished the chase with a huge six.
Brief scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 134/7 in 20 overs (Saha 44; Hazlewood 3-24) lost to Chennai Super Kings 139/4 in 19.4 overs (Gaikwad 45; Holder 3-27) by 6 wickets with 2 balls to spare. Player of the Match: Josh Hazlewood.