Chennai: Five time winners Chennai Super Kings (CSK) ambushed Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by 78 runs to stay afloat for a play off place, thanks to skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad's near century and a disciplined effort by the bowlers in a crucial IPL contest at the Chepauk stadium here on Sunday night.
After rattling up 212 for three, thanks largely to Ruturaj's 98 (54 balls, 10 fours and three sixers) and half century by Daryll Mitchel (52, 32 bals, 7x4, 1x6) and the final flourish by Shivam Dube (39 not out, four fours and a six in 20 balls), the bowlers, rose to the occasion, picking up wickets at regular intervals, including three in the power play to fashion an important win.
SRH ended up at 134 all out in 18.5 overs.
This is 150th win for Dhoni as an IPL player and 50th win for CSK at home.
And for the first time SRH was bowled out in this edition and another interesting fact is that Daryl Mitchell, who shone with a half century that set the stage for a defendable total and the team crossed 200-mark, finished with five catches in the deep--a CSK record.
For CSK, medium pacers rose to the occasion, with Tushar Deshpande ending up with four wickets for 27 runs in three overs, including three inside the power play, before left armer Mustafizur Rahman polished off the tail with two wickets and fellow pacer Matheesha Paritharana chipping in with two wickets and a wicket each for Ravindra Jadeja and Sharadul Thakur.
The win catapulted CSK to the third slot from the sixth place on a better run rate with five wins (10 points) in nine matches.
But this is not the end as it has to win its most of the remaining five matches in its bid to retain and for a record sixth title, but more importantly a place in the knock outs.
After losing the last match to LSG at home, the bowlers adapted well to the dew conditions and applied brakes on the SRH batsmen to keep CSK's hopes alive.
Chasing a difficult target, SRH started off on a brisk note. But the openers Travis Head, who is fine form with, and Abhishek Sharma flattered to deceive losing three wickets inside the power play, that halted the chase as the visitors collapsed from 72 for three in the ninth over to lose the remaining seven wickets for 62 runs as they wilted under pressure.
The tide turned remarkably in just two overs during the power play, thanks to a triple strike by Tushar Dehspande, that provided the much needed momentum for the other bowlers to tighten the noose and keep the batsmen on a tight leash.
After 20 runs in the first two overs, medium pacer Tushar Deshpande struck a purple patch getting rid of both the openers and impact player Amolpreet singh of the first ball as SRH were done and dusted at 40-3 in fourth over, from which they never recovered despite some valiant effort by their batters.
Aidem Markaram and Nitish Kumar Reddy briefly stemmed the rot with a 32 run stand before all rounder Ravindra Jadeja and sling bowler Mahisha Patheerana picked up a wicket each to further dent the chase as the visitors were reduced to 85 for five by the 11th over.
Despite being ahead on the runrate early in the innings, it dropped significantly due to disciplined bowling by the CSK bowlers, despite dew coming into play, as boundaries dried up in the middle overs and runs came in a trickle adding more pressure on the batsmen.
With the run rate mounting to nearly 20 an over in the closing stages, the exit of Henrich Kalssen (20, 1x6) in the 16th over with Pathirana picking up his second wicket, compounded the woes of the visitors, who were down in the dumps at 118 for six with four overs remaining.
Sharadul Thakur joined the wicket taking act removing Samad as SRH lost their seventh wicket in the 17th over, who tried to up the ante amid mounting run rate.
Thereafter it was a mere formality as CSK romped home and kept its hopes alive of a place in the play offs with its fifth win in nine matches.