Sunrisers Hyderabad’s first-ever win against Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk plummets hosts to another low as they lose four in a row at home.
It was an outing that was befitting their position in the points table before the game began. Hyderabad, placed ninth, and Chennai at the last spot, have been off-colour this season. Their losses have all been convincing and pitted against each other, they ended up taking the game deep before Hyderabad found a way to overcome Chennai for the first time here. The five-wicket win keeps them alive in the race for the play-offs as Chennai once again surrendered their fortress.
Looking ahead
With this season going nowhere close to play-off qualification, MS Dhoni and Stephen Fleming had already hinted at planning for the season. Dewald Brewis was the newest introduction to the XI in place of the struggling Rachin Ravindra, while Sam Curran also came in. All of it meant, from a Dad’s Army, they went on to field one of their youngest XIs with four of them – Noor Ahmad, Shaik Rasheed, Ayush Mhatre and Brewis – being 22 or below.
Chennai are still mathematically in with a chance of qualification for the play-offs, but with their batting unit nowhere close to finding any sort of rhythm, building towards the future is a high priority. And after Rasheed and Mhatre made good impressions, it was the turn of Brewis to show Chennai what they have been missing.
In each of their outings, while a lot has been mentioned about the shaky top order, the middle order has not fired either. On Friday, Chennai once again lost wickets in the Powerplay – Rasheed off the first ball to Mohammed Shami, Curran and Mhatre in successive overs – but they did get 50 on the board in the first six overs – only the fourth such instance this season.
A milestone victory 👏#SRH register their first ever win at Chepauk with a strong performance against #CSK 🔝💪
Scorecard ▶ https://t.co/26D3UampFQ#TATAIPL | #CSKvSRH | @SunRisers pic.twitter.com/lqeX4CiWHP
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 25, 2025
With Ravindra Jadeja unable to up the ante at the end, they sent him at No 4. With poor returns against spinners, it wasn’t the best of choices, but that’s how thin Chennai are in terms of resources. Despite being dropped early on, he could only manage 21 before Brewis lifted them with a 25-ball 42. Among the most promising talents emerging out of the Rainbow nation, the ‘Baby AB’ has had a stop-start career in the IPL with Mumbai Indians. That he went unsold at the auction was an indication of the progress he had to make. But, such is the desperation from Chennai, they turned to him, and he responded in the way he knows. For a batting unit devoid of six-hitters, he hit four of them on the night before his innings was cut short by Kamindu Mendis’s outstretched flying effort at long-off.
What was once again evident was Chennai’s batting continues to fire blanks. On a pitch that was holding up from the very beginning, slower deliveries were always going to trouble batsmen. And in such conditions, Harshal Patel once again showed his skills, with slower deliveries and variations fetching him four wickets as Chennai were dismissed for 154.
End of the drought
In a season where Hyderabad’s batsmen have been found wanting when it comes to batting in different gears, to overhaul this total on this surface, they had to bat out of their skins. With the presence of dew to their advantage, Hyderabad should have overhauled it with ease if their batsmen were prepared to apply themselves. But it is a batting unit lacking confidence at the moment with Travis Head and Heinrich Klaasen in particular being inconsistent. Chennai got rid of Abhishek Sharma off the second ball, and by the time they were done with the Powerplay, even Head was back in the hut.
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By now, Chennai were in front and when Jadeja saw the back of Klaasen in the ninth over, Hyderabad appeared to be losing their way again. That’s when Ishan Kishan, who started the season with a century, lifted them out of the rut with 44 before being dismissed by Noor. When Ishan and Aniket Sharma fell in quick succession, Chennai hoped again.
Ishan Kishan inspired #SRH‘s chase with a composed 44(34) 👏
🎥🔽 WATCH his crucial knock | #TATAIPL | #CSKvSRH | @SunRisers | @ishankishan51
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 25, 2025
That Hyderabad were still in contention was down to two bad overs from Curran. With the asking rate mounting, they managed to get 25 off two overs from Noor and 15 off Matheesha Pathirana’s. It silenced Chepauk once again as Mendis and Nitish Kumar Reddy gave Chennai their fourth successive defeat at home for the first time.
Brief scores: Chennai Super Kings 154 all out in 19.5 overs (Dewald Brevis 42, Ayush Mhatre 30; Harshal Patel 4/28, Cummins 2/21) lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad 155/5 in 18.4 overs (Ishan Kishan 44, Kamindu Mendis 32 not out) by five wickets
