CSK become the first team to seal playoff spot in IPL 2021
Chennai Super Kings have beaten Sunrisers Hyderabad by six wickets to become the first team in the IPL 2021 to reach the playoffs.
CSK completed the 135-run target with two balls in hand, with Mahendra Singh Dhoni hitting a huge six to finish the game in his typical style.
This was CSK’s seventh win in a row in the UAE.
The team has now qualified to the next stage of the tournament after playing only 11 games, something that will have the Chennai streets brimming with fans celebrating the feat, especially considering how CSK came back strongly after a horrible last season.
They were the first team to exit the tournament last time around.
CSK openers remain consistent
Ruturaj Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis showed off their amazing chemistry as openers once again. Their 75-run opening stand meant that chasing the mediocre target at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium will be a piece of cake for CSK.
They have been far more consistent than any opening pair in the league. After their 11th game, du Plessis has secured the third spot in the list of most run-getters this season (435 runs), whereas Gaikwad is fifth with 407 runs.
They have been consistently spanking bowling units for boundaries in the powerplay to give CSK a thrilling start. This has, so far, helped their brittle middle-order that has been crippled due to form slump of skipper Dhoni, Ambati Rayudu and Suresh Raina.
Hazlewood sizzles with the ball
Josh Hazlewood’s arrival in the CSK huddle has bolstered their pace attack. The tall Australian pacer has been consistently bowling at good lengths to avoid leaking runs in his opening spells.
His 3/24 helped the CSK restrict SRH to a small total.
While Deepak Chahar (0/32) and Shardul Thakur (1/37) were expensive in their quotas, Hazlewood’s spells kept the SRH batters in check.
Bhuvi loses the plot
Bhuvneshwar Kumar is the leader of the SRH pace cartel, but he got dispatched for a whopping 34 runs without claiming any wicket. His 13-run penultimate over showed how Kumar was having one of his worst IPL games this season.
The team needed him to deliver the goods like he has done for them on several occasions, but it just wasn’t his night.
Jason Holder stood head and shoulder above all SRH bowlers with 3/27. After the game, SRH captain Kane Williamson pointed out a lack of runs as the primary reason for their loss.
“Not quite [enough runs]. We were still competitive,” he said. “It was fantastic, and it is important we keep bringing that. At the end of the powerplay, we were 40-something… The cameos from boys in the lower-middle order gave us something.”
