IPL 2019: SRH vs CSK - Captaincy move that did not work

Today, Sunrisers Hyderabad took the revenge for the defeats of the last season. After consecutive losses against CSK last season, SRH registered a win tonight.

Both the teams came into this match in contrasting circumstances. Chennai Super Kings had won seven out of their first eight matches of the season coming into the game. The defending champions who have a foot in the playoffs visited Sunrisers Hyderabad who had been struggling struggling in the last few matches. They had lost three matches in a row after a good start to the campaign.

CSK was led by Suresh Raina instead of MS Dhoni, who was missing due to a back spasm. The stand-in captain won the toss and decided to bat first on a slow pitch. After a slow start, both Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis played their shots to put visitors in a good position. Then the Men in Yellow lost five wickets in just 29 balls, adding only 22 runs on the board.

This brought Ambati Rayudu and Ravindra Jadeja together at the crease. Rayudu who was overlooked for the World Cup squad played a decent innings, on the other hand, Jadeja struggled for rhythm. The all-rounder managed to score just 10 runs off 20 balls as CSK could only post a target of 133 for the hosts.

This was still a tricky target considering the nature of the pitch. CSK could have been back in the game with a few early wickets. This is where Raina made a mistake by not opening the bowling with the spinners. Both Jonny Bairstow and David Warner are very comfortable against pace.

Warner got his team off to a flying start as CSK bowlers had no answer to his strokeplay. He got out just after completing a half-century but the damage had been already done. Kane Williamson was dismissed by Imran Tahir which gave a bit of hope to the visitors.

It was not to be the case as Bairstow looked solid on the other end. Eventually, SRH won the match by wickets with 19 balls to spare. This win will be a great confidence booster for the hosts who are back in the race to qualify for playoffs.