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Sharjah: Sharjah: Smith's 46-ball 66 and McCullum's 33-ball 44 in trying conditions helped Chennai Super Kings chased down 146 against Sunrisers Hyderabad at Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium on Sunday.
The Chennai Super Kings maintained their 100 percent winning record against the Surisers Hyderabad with a last-over win. Despite getting a flying start – courtesy Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum – CSK briefly stumbled during their chase of 146 runs. However, they eventually got over the line with five wickets in hand and three balls to spare.
SRH won the toss and elected to bat first, earlier in the evening. Shikhar Dhawan (7), however, got out in the third over itself off the bowling of Ben Hilfenhaus. Even David Warner (0) did not last long and became Hilfenhaus’ second victim in the space of three balls. Aaron Finch was joined by Lokesh Rahul with the scorecard reading 15 for two. The duo needed to resurrect the SRH innings, and that is exactly what they did. They added 52 runs during a nearly eight-over stretch, before Rahul (25) was dismissed by Dwayne Smith in the 11th over.
Finch and Venugopal Rao (13) then took the SRH innings forward with a quick 31-run partnership. However, Mohit Sharma got rid of the latter in the 15th over to leave the Sunrisers on 98 for four. Even Finch (44) departed a little while later; Mohit Sharma cleaned him up in the 18th over. Thereafter, Darren Sammy (23*) and Karn Sharma (17*) took charge of proceedings. With little more than two overs to go, they compiled an unbroken 36-run stand.
During his seven-ball knock, Karn Sharma smacked Hilfenhaus for two monstrous sixes in the 19th over. Even Sammy got in on the act and struck a maximum in the final over of the innings. Punishing any loose offerings they got, the duo managed to take the SRH score to a respectable 145 for five in their allotted 20 overs.
For CSK, Hilfenhaus and Mohit Sharma picked two scalps each. And while R Ashwin did not dismiss any SRH batsman, he was extremely miserly during his four overs, which ended up costing just 17 runs.
In reply, CSK’s openers – Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum – notched up 85 runs in 10.5 overs to put their team on top. Their partnership ended when Karn Sharma bowled McCullum (40) out. Before departing, the Kiwi batsman struck three fours and two massive sixes.
Then, Suresh Raina came to the crease. While content with playing second fiddle to Smith, the southpaw also smashed a four and a six during his stay in the middle. Smith too continued his onslaught and reached his half-century in quick time. The pair also took CSK past the 100-run mark. However, Raina’s (14) cameo ended when he tried to go for a big hit off Ishant Sharma, but could only find the safe hands of Venugopal Rao in the outfield.
But there was no stopping the on-song Smith (66), who kept dispatching the ball to, and over, the fence almost at will. The hard-hitting West Indian struck a total of four fours and five sixes during his 46-ball knock, which brought CSK to the brink of another big win. He was finally dismissed by Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the 16th over, with CSK just 20 runs adrift of the target.
After getting rid of Smith, Kumar had Faf du Plessis (0) caught behind in the same over. And then after adding 11 runs with Dhoni for the fifth wicket, Ravindra Jadeja (6) was bowled out by Ishant Sharma. With the run-chase equation suddenly coming up to a run-a-ball in the final over, Amit Mishra came into the attack. But after conceding two singles in two balls, the leg-spinner bowled a full-toss to Dhoni (13*), who promptly dispatched it to the fence to strike the winning runs.
For SRH, Kumar and Ishant Sharma picked up two wickets each.
Earlier, Hyderabad have won the toss and have opted to bat.
Hyderabad made one change with Ishant Sharma replacing Naman Ojha while Chennai unchanged.
Teams:
Chennai: Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Smith, Suresh Raina, Faf du Plessis, MS Dhoni (Capt. & wk), Mithun Manhas, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohit Sharma, Ben Hilfenhaus, Ishwar Pandey
Hyderabad: Aaron Finch, Shikhar Dhawan (Capt.), David Warner, Venugopal Rao, Lokesh Rahul (wk), Darren Sammy, Karan Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Dale Steyn, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma
Brief scores
Sunrisers Hyderabad - 145/5 (Finch 44, Mohit Sharma 2-27, Hilfenhaus 2-32)
Chennai Super Kings - 146/5 (Smith 66, McCullum 40)
Result - Chennai Super Kings won by 5 wickets
Points - Chennai Super Kings 2, Sunrisers Hyderabad 0
