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Chennai: Riding on Brendon McCullum’s century, the Chennai Super Kings registered their second win of Pepsi IPL 2015 when they defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 45 runs at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
After posting 209 batting first, the hosts restricted their opponents to 164-6.
McCullum lit up the Chepauk – a venue where he had only scored 69 runs in six previous IPL innings – with his second IPL hundred after CSK captain MS Dhoni won an important toss and opted to bat.
McCullum and his opening partner Dwayne Smith helped their team to 75 runs when a direct hit from Trent Boult brought about Smith’s dismissal. Suresh Raina, who batted at number three, made 14 before he too was run out – courtesy a direct hit by KL Rahul.
McCullum was ruthless on the Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers until the 14th over from which point onwards MS Dhoni stole the limelight.
Dhoni promoted himself to number four, and despite the presence of a well-set batsman at the crease, stamped his authority on the proceedings. He scored just six runs off the first ten deliveries he faced, but thereafter cut loose, smashing four boundaries and as many sixes as he raced to 50 in 28 balls.
Ravi Bopara, who was a surprise selection in the SRH XI, was the pick of the bowlers, conceding only 29 runs in his four overs. Trent Boult was the lone wicket-taker, while Ishant and Karn Sharma came in for plenty of stick conceding 97 runs in their seven overs combined.
Ishant, returning to competitive cricket after more than three months, didn’t help his cause as he bowled four No Balls and ended up conceding 46 runs in his three overs.
SRH’s run-chase got off to a brisk start – with David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan adding 30 in quick time, but they never really got their teeth. Warner batted until the 15th over, but that he only faced 42 deliveries explains he didn’t get too much of strike, despite being the team’s premier batsman. The SRH skipper made 53 and hit just one boundary and three sixes in his knock. SRH finished their 20 overs with 164 runs on the board.
For CSK, R Ashwin (1-22) was the most impressive of the bowlers; he bowled good lines and lengths, used the angles smartly and bowled his pace that didn’t make stroke-making easy. Mohit Sharma, Ishwar Pandey and Dwayne Bravo were the other wicket-takers.
Brief Scores
Chennai Super Kings - 209/4 (McCullum 100*, Dhoni 53)
Sunrisers Hyderabad - 164/6 (Warner 53, Mohit 2-36)
Result - Chennai Super Kings won by 45 runs
Points - Chennai Super Kings 2, Sunrisers Hyderabad 0
MOM - Brendon McCullum (Chennai Super Kings)
