Ranchi: David Warner pulverised a listless Chennai Super Kings attack into submission on Thursday with some breathtaking strokeplay as Sunrisers Hyderabad won by six wickets to keep slim chances of qualifying for the IPL play-offs alive.
Courtesy Warner’s 45-ball-90 (a strike rate of a perfect 200) and an equally effective unbeaten 64 off 49 balls from Shikhar Dhawan, Sunrisers crossed the mark with two balls to spare, taking their points tally to 12 with a match still to play.
However, if Rajasthan Royals win their next match and take their points tally to 16, Sunrisers’ last game will be rendered inconsequential.
CSK, who have already qualified for the play-offs, have now encountered a hat-trick of defeats, losing to Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers.
This is only the fourth time in seven editions that CSK have lost three matches in a row.
Warner started by belting Mohit Sharma for a couple of boundaries – one on square of the wicket and the other was a straight hit.
In the next over he hit Ravichandran Ashwin straight into the sightscreen and also got a boundary.
The final over of the powerplay and second bowled by John Hastings opened the floodgates as Warner smacked him for five boundaries that enabled him to reach his half-century.
When Ravindra Jadeja was brought into the attack, he strayed down the leg-side and Warner then hit him for good measure over the deep mid-wicket fence.
Shikhar Dhawan batted sensibly as he dealt in singles, giving the bulk of the strike to Warner, who was on a rampage.
The 100 came up in 10 overs in which Warner had scored 80 and Dhawan only 16.
Young left-arm spinner Pawan Negi was pretty nervous, which was evident from the half-tracker that he bowled and was pulled by the Aussie opener over the square-leg boundary.
Dhawan also played a deft cut shot to get his first four.
Warner finally played on with team’s total on 116 with Hastings getting his revenge. He hit 12 fours and three sixes in his 45-ball knock.
Earlier, ‘Super-Sub’ David Hussey and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni engaged in some enthrallong strokeplay as Chennai Super Kings scored an imposing 185 for three after being put into bat by opposition skipper Darren Sammy.
Hussey justified the faith the CSK management entrusted in him by summoning him as Dwayne Bravo’s replacement, scoring a rapid 50 off 33 balls while Dhoni as usual saved his best for the last with another hurricane unbeaten 41-ball-57 that had two fours and four sixes.
Dhoni launched into Dale Steyn in the final over of the innings, smashing 24 with the help of two fours and two sixes.
The duo added a whopping 108 runs in 11.2 overs for the unbroken fourth wicket as CSK crossed the 180-run mark with ease.
Among the other batsmen, the in-form Dwayne Smith again showed his big-hitting prowess with a 28-ball-47 that had four fours and four huge sixes. (PTI)
Brief scores:
CSK: 185/3, 20 overs (MS Dhoni 57*, D Hussey 50*, D Smith 47; K Sharma 2-19)
SH: 189/4, 19.4 overs (D Warner 90, S Dhawan 64*; S Raina 1-17)
