IPL 2018, SRH vs CSK: 5 reasons why Hyderabad lost

The first of the doubleheader today was a matchup between the best batting side and the best bowling side as the Chennai Super Kings took on the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.

Kane Williamson won the toss and invited Chennai to bat. CSK got off to a poor start as they lost both their openers for a paltry score. Things were looking uphill for the 2-time champions when Ambati Rayadu decided to open his arms.

Rayadu played one of the best innings of this year’s IPL and along with Suresh Raina, batted Sunrisers out of the match. Chasing a hefty score, Sunrisers got off to the worst possible start, losing 3 wickets for just 22 runs on the board.

The likes of Kane Williamson, Yusuf Pathan, and Rashid Khan did try to make a match out of it but in the end, the target proved just too much for them. Chennai went on to win the thrilling contest by 4 runs. Let us have a look at 5 reasons why the Sunrisers lost the contest.

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#1 Rayadu’s exhilarating knock

Ambati Rayadu came into bat with Chennai struggling at 32/2 in the 8th over. He got his innings going by a pull shot of Rashid Khan through midwicket.

With Chennai failing to get any momentum going in their innings, Rayadu took charge in the middle and smashed the Hyderabad attack to all corners of the ground.

Off his last 16 balls, Rayadu smashed a staggering 48 runs, belting 6 fours and 3 sixes in the process. Rayadu’s knock of 79 runs changed the whole complexion of the game. It was probably the best knock of Rayadu’s IPL journey.

#2 Rashid Khan fails again

Rashid Khan emerged as the find of last year’s IPL as none of the batsmen failed to pick up his variations. After starting on the right note this year as well, Rashid has faded away a little in his last few games.

After being hammered by Chris Gayle in the last game, Rashid failed to live up to his reputation today as well.

His length was too full today and Suresh Raina made full use of it by lofting him for back to back sixes. Rashid went for a massive 49 runs of his 4 overs. It seems that now the batsmen are slowly starting to get hold of the Afghan leggie.

#3 Poor death bowling

There is no debate about the fact that Sunrisers have the best attack in the IPL. The yorkers and knuckleballs of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Siddarth Kaul are hard to get away in the last few overs.

Add to that the variations of Rashid Khan and the pace of Billy Stanlake and you have a champion bowling line up. However, all of them lost the plot today.

Hyderabad’s bowlers struggled with their lines and lengths at the end of Chennai’s innings and the likes of Raina, Rayadu, and Dhoni made them pay in a big way.

The last 7 overs of Chennai innings yielded a massive 95 runs. This late onslaught ensured that Chennai had a match-winning score instead of a competitive one.

#4 Deepak Chahar’s dream spell

Chasing a stiff target of 183, the Sunrisers needed to get a strong start at the top. However, Deepak Chahar had some other plans. The young pacer bowled a wicket maiden over, accounting for Ricky Bhui in the process.

In the next over he got the big fish as Manish Pandey could only manage to slap a short ball straight into the hands of Karan Sharma at third man. Only 1 run came of that over as well.

Chahar wasn’t done there as he deceived Deepak Hooda with his knuckleball in the next over resulting in a simple catch for Ravindra Jadeja at extra cover. His spell of 3 wickets for 15 runs ensured that Sunrisers failed to get any momentum going at the start of their innings.

#5 Manish Pandey fails again

The Sunrisers went hammer and tongs at the IPL auctions to occupy the services of Manish Pandey. However, Manish has failed to get going this season and is finding it difficult to justify his price tag of Rs. 11 crores.

He has only scored 72 runs of the 4 matches that he has played. In fact, his slow innings of 54 runs in the last match against Punjab, cost his side the game.

In the absence of David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan, the responsibility of chasing down a big target of 183 runs rested on the shoulders of Pandey. However, he departed without troubling the scorers, playing a rash shot.

It is no secret that Sunrisers have a brittle batting line up and if the senior guys like Manish get out to such casual shots, they will find it difficult to chase down targets.

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