Chennai Super Kings (CSK) registered their second straight win at home with McCullum and MS Dhoni thrashing Sunrisers Hyderabad’s (SRH) impressive, at least in theory, bowling attack.
CSK captain MS Dhoni decided to bat first after winning the toss on a good surface. Bhuvneshwar and Boult started off well but McCullum kept going with his shots. Smith struggled throughout the innings before getting run out for 27. After that, McCullum went more hard against Sunrisers bowlers as he smashed every SRH bowler. He kept hitting the big shots as the run rate was going about 10 an over. Raina played an anchor role during his stay but he too departed due to a direct hit. But Sunrisers troubles increased when MS Dhoni entered the crease.
Dhoni began slowing playing off few deliveries with dead bat, but after that, he looked unstoppable. He got struck in to leg-spinner Karan Sharma against whom he scored 3 sixes in the penultimate over of the innings. He completed his fifty in 25 balls but soon fell to Boult in the last over for 53. Jadeja had to sacrifice his wicket on next ball letting McCullum to complete his hundred. McCullum, who hardly got strike during MS Dhoni’s stay, was on 89 with 3 balls left. He managed well to scoop for a six and four to move up to 99 and picked up a single on last ball to complete his second IPL century.
Chasing a target of 210, Sunrisers got a decent start with Dhawan hitting boundaries. However, Dhawan fell for 26 in cause of quick runs and Rahul too followed the southpaw. David Warner found himself struggling before some tight bowling of Chennai Super Kings as on the other hand Naman Ojha too departed. When finally Warner looked like hitting well, he was caught well at cow corner by Dwayne Smith for 53. Bopara tried to hit a few sixes but he too fell got out for 22. Williamson, who came out to bat at No.6 could only manage to pick single infront of heavy required rate as they managed 164 for 6 in the 20 overs and fell short by 45 runs.