IPL 2018: Ambati Rayudu's maiden century help CSK beat SRH by 8 wickets

Chennai Super Kings beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 8 wickets to gain two points. Ambati Rayudu scored his maiden IPL century

In the 46th match of the VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018, Chennai Super Kings won the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad and remained in the second spot in the VIVO IPL points table. Rayudu continued his top form and smashed a brilliant century that enabled the team to reach the target of 180 runs. The usual formidable bowling attack from Hyderabad looked pale today and much of that goes to the wicket condition. Despite the win, there was no change in the position of the teams on the VIVO IPL points table. 

Chennai Super Kings had won the toss and elected to field first against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Chennai bowlers kept trying but the partnership between Dhawan and Williamson kept going strong. Dhawan also made his fifty. Jadeja, Watson and Bravo were on the attack yet, a wicket looked far-flung dream for Chennai. Dhawan fell and Williamson followed in the next ball but only after making his fifty. SRH made 179/4 after their 20 overs.

In Hyderabad’s reply, Ambati Rayudu and Shane Watson opened the batting for Chennai. The two had a firm start and they did not allow any dismissal while Hyderabad bowlers were longing for a wicket. The duo kept pushing the ball for a boundary and continuous hitting enabled the team to peak in early in the game where the target was big and against a strong team.

CSK vs SRH SCOREBOARD: CSK innings

Chennai Super Kings vs Sunrisers Hyderabad (CSK vs SRH) SCOREBOARD: CSK innings
BATSMEN	Dismissal	Runs	Balls	Fours	Sixes	Strike Rate
Shane Watson	run out (Williamson/Goswami)	57	35	5	3	162.85
Ambati Rayudu	not out	100	62	7	7	161.29
Suresh Raina	c Williamson b Sandeep Sharma	2	3	0	0	66.66
MS Dhoni	not out	20	14	1	1	142.85
Total: 180/2 in 19 Overs
BOWLERS	Overs	Maiden	Runs	Wickets	Economy Rate
Sandeep Sharma	4	0	36	1	9
Bhuvneswar Kumar	4	0	38	0	9.5
Rashid Khan	4	0	25	0	6.25
Shakib Al Hasan	4	0	41	0	10.25
Siddharth Kaul	3	0	40	0	13.33

Chennai Super Kings innings update: Over by over

Chennai Super Kings playing XI for today's match: Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, Sam Billings, MS Dhoni(w/c), Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, David Willey, Harbhajan Singh, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur

Over 1: Shane Watson and Ambati Rayudu to open for CSK. Sandeep Sharma to start for SRH. Good cover drive by Watson for a double. Same shot again, this time straight to the fielder. Good shot through the point region for four. Driven to man at mid-on for no run. Single to finish the over. CSK: 7-0

Over 2: Bhuvneshwar Kumar comes to the attack. He misses the length marginally and Waston wacks him for six. Inside edge, misses the stump. Single to Watson. Eight runs from the over. CSK: 15-0

Over 3: Sharma continues, better line than the previous over. Not giving the width that Rayudu needs. Single taken by Rayudu. The ball is not swinging as it was in the first innings. Poor delivery from Sandeep, slower one on leg stump, Watson hits a six. And here is another one. CSK: 28-0

Over 4: Bhuvi continues, SIX, over the covers region. CSK: 36-0

Over 5: Rashid Khan comes to the attack. Brilliant line. Rayudu sweeps. CSK: 43-0

Over 6: Shakin comes to the attack, Watson sweeps, bad fielding goes for four. Rayudu steps out and wacks it for four. CSK: 53-0

Over 7: Siddharth Kaul is the new bowler. Hit for four. And here is a six. Cracking cover drive for four. CSK is on fire. CSK: 69-0

Over 8: Shakib continues, just one. Watson tries to sweep, misses. Short of length, goes for four. CSK 77-0

Over 9: Rashid Khan continues, Just one. Watson misses. Short ball and dispatched for four. CSK: 83-0

Over 10: Sandeep comes to the attack, batsmen dealing in singles. The ball is not swinging. Low full toss, good stop in the deep. Slower ball, misses. This time it goes for four. Watson hits 50. CSK: 92-0

Over 11: Kaul continues, short ball, not reaching the fielder. SIX, again short ball, Rayudu hits a good six. 50 up for him. Good yorker. Four more. CSK: 106-0

Over 12: Rashid continues, gets hit for a six. A few singles. CSK: 114-0

Over 13: Bhuvi continues, just one. Another six. And four, 14 runs from the over. CSK: 128-0

Over 14: Shakib continues, Rayudu hits a six. Watson is run out. He goes for 57. Raina comes in. CSK: 137-1

Over 15: Sandeep comes in and Raina is gone. Mahendra Singh Dhoni comes to the crease. Wide. One run. CSK: 143-2

Over 16: Shakib comes to the attack, Dhoni hits it to the long-on and Manish drops it. CSK: 157-2

Over 17: Rashid comes to the attack, Dealing in singles. CSK: 161-2

Over 18: Kaul continues, Single. Single for Dhoni. Single for Rayudu. Dhoni hits a six. CSK: 172-2

Over 19: Bhuvi comes to the attack. Bouncer. In the air, just falls short. Four for Dhoni. Single. 100 for Rayudu. First for him in IPL. CSK win by 8 wickets.

Chennai Super Kings innings analysis after end of innings
 

Amabati Rayudu and Shane Watson opened the innings for CSK while Sandeep Sharma bowled the first over. He was not producing as much swing as the CSK bowlers did in their initial overs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar came in for the second over and Watson clear the fence with a pull shot. Sandeep Sharma continued. Bowled a slow knuckle ball which Watson read perfectly to hit it past the boundary line. Another short-pitched delivery and the end result was the same. CSK started well and stood at 28/0 after 3 overs.

CSK were soring at a decent 9 runs per over 4 overs and Rashid Khan was brought into the attack and Shakib after him to get a breakthrough for SRH. But CSK nothing seemed to stop CSK and they kept scoring runs quickly. CSK made good use of the powerplay and stood at 53/0 after 6 overs.

Sidharth Kaul was introduced into the attack and Rayudu welcomed him with a four and a six. It was clear that CSK had kept the possibility of rain affecting the play in mind and were maintaining a steady run rate between 9 and 10 to remain in a solid position if DLS came into play. The strong bowling line-up of SRH was not able to break the partnership and CSK were cruising towards the target. Rashid returned and bowled tight over in spite of getting hit for a four. CSK were sitting comfortably at 83/0 after 9 overs.

Both the batsmen were playing intelligent cricket as they did not not blindly slogged every other ball. Boundaries were coming in at regular intervals and singles and doubles kept the scoreboard ticking. Pressure was on SRH bowlers to find a wicket while Rayudu and Watson were hitting the ball all across the park. The bowling attack was not able to contain the run flow as the scoring rate touched 9.5 while the asking rate was 8.25. CSK were 114/0 after 12 overs with both the batsmen reaching their fifty.

Williamson brought back his best bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar, literally trying everything to get a wicket. But, even he wasn't spared either. Runs were coming in from everywhere and Kumar conceded 14 runs. Shakib came in to bowl the 14th over and was straight away under pressure, all thanks to Rayudu's huge six over long-on. But, SRH finally saw a ray of hope when Watson got run-out. Suresh Raina came in at number 3. Batsmen were kept silent for the rest of the over. Sandeep Sharma came in for his last over, and Raina had to depart on the very first ball. M S Dhoni was the new man in. No more quick runs for CSK. They 37 runs in 30 balls.

Shakib returned to bowl his last of the match. Created a chance for Manish Pandey who dropped a simple catch at long-on, M S Dhoni survived. Rayudu smacked the next two balls for a six and a four. Rashid Khan was back into the attack. Dhoni was just hanging on to his wicket while Rayudu was firing for CSK. 19 runs were needed in the last three overs. Kaul bowled the 18th over. Kaul bowled quick deliveries and the Batsmen just kept rotating the strike. Kaul's every alternate delivery was a full-toss and he was punished for a similar one when Dhoni hit him for a flat six in the on-side region towards the end of the over. CSK needed 8 runs at the start of the 19th over. Bhuvneshwar came in to bowl. Rayudu mis-hit a ball that landed in the no-man's land. Dhoni wacked the next ball for a boundary and took a soft single to allow Rayudu to complete his century, which he did quite easily. CSK went past the finishing line in the same over and sealed the match with 6 balls to go. A much-needed victory for CSK after consecutive losses. This win increased their chances to end the league phase of the tournament at the to 2 spots to give themselves a better chance in the playoffs. 

CSK vs SRH SCOREBOARD: SRH innings

Chennai Super Kings vs Sunrisers Hyderabad (CSK vs SRH) SCOREBOARD: SRH innings
BATSMEN	Dismissal	Runs	Balls	Fours	Sixes	Strike Rate
Shikhar Dhawan	c Harbhajan Singh b Bravo	79	49	10	3	161.22
Alex Hales	c Raina b Chahar	2	9	0	0	22.22
Kane Williamson	c Bravo b Thakur	51	39	5	2	130.76
Manish Pandey	c Willey b Thakur	5	6	0	0	83.33
Deepak Hooda	not out	21	11	1	1	190.9
Shakib Al Hasan	not out	8	6	1	0	133.33
Total: 179/4 in 20 Overs
BOWLERS	Overs	Maiden	Runs	Wickets	Economy Rate
Deepak Chahar	4	0	16	1	4
Shardul Thakur	4	0	32	2	8
David Willey	2	0	24	0	12
Harbhajan Singh	2	0	26	0	13
Shane Watson	2	0	15	0	7.5
DJ Bravo	4	0	39	1	9.75
Ravindra Jadeja	2	0	24	0	12

Sunrisers Hyderabad innings update: Over by over

Sunrisers Hyderabad playing XI for today's match: Alex Hales, Shikhar Dhawan, Kane Williamson(c), Manish Pandey, Shakib Al Hasan, Deepak Hooda, Shreevats Goswami(w), Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul, Sandeep Sharma

Over 1: Alex Hales and Shikhar Dhawan to open for Sunrisers Hyderabad. Deepak Chahar to start it off for Chennai Super Kings. Dhawan is off the mark on the first ball. Hales failed to put the wide one away, it should have gone for four but the placement was not right, no run. Brilliant line by Chahar. Another beauty of a ball by Chahar, Hales is not moving his feet at all. End of over. SRH: 1-0.

Over 2: Shardul Thakur is in the attack, inside edge, misses the stump. Dhawan was very lucky there. Huge LBW appeal, turned down. Risky single. SRh batsmen need better footwork. Just five runs from the over. SRH: 6-0

Over 3: David Willey comes to the attack. Decent line to Dhawan. Single taken by Dhawan. Hope Willey is over the ghost of the previous match. Hales tries to swing and ends up getting the inside edge, just for one. First well-struck boundary of the match. And again, this time Dhawan goes on the off side. SRH: 16-0

Over 4: Chahar continues, Dhawan and Hales rotating the strike well. Hales hit the wide -of-off-stump ball without moving his feet. It went straight to Raina and he makes no mistake. Hales gone for two. Captain Kane Williamson comes to the crease. What a swing Deepak is getting today. It is probably due to the wind that is blowing. That was a brilliant in-swinger. He is getting movement on both sides. SRH: 18-1

Over 5: Thakur is back, just one for Dhawan. Williamson pulls it well, goes for four. Brilliant fielding on the off side. Good movement of the ball in the air. Bhuvi and Sandeep would be glad to see this. Six runs came from the over. SRH: 24-1

Over 6: Chahar continues to bowl his third over. Ball is moving. Runs won't be coming so easily on this pitch. Wide down the leg side. Just one for Dhawan. One run to end the over. SRH: 29-1

Over 7: Harbhajan Singh comes to bowl. Dhawan steps out and wacks it for a four over his head. Wide outside the off. Single to end the over. CSK: 39-1

Over 8: Chahar to bowl his final over. Brilliant bowling, just one. Good cover drive for one. Good cover drive by Dhawan for four. Wide down the leg. Wide again. Dhawan charges down the track and takes a single. SRH: 49-1

Over 9: Shane Watson comes to the attack, and gest movement. Williamson cuts ferociously and still doesn't get a four. Swing and a miss, good bowling. SRH: 51-1

Over 10: Dwayne Bravo comes in, strict line. Bravo misses the line and Williamson hits a four. Single again. Now Dhawan hits a four as Harbhajan misses the ball. Good over for SRH. 11 runs came from it. SRH: 62-1

Over 11: Ravindra Jadeja comes in the attack. Dhawan plays a beautiful cut for four, it was short of length ball, hence got punished. Dhawan steps out and hit Jadeja for a six. End of the over. SRH: 75-1

Over 12: Watson is back and Williamson wacks him over the point boundary for four. Short of length ball and Williamson wacks it over mid-wicket for six. Beautiful uppercut, just for one though. Dhawan misses dispatching the full toss. Wide down the leg. Powerful straight drive just for one. SRH: 89-1

Over 13: Jadeja is back, SRH batsmen picking easy singles. Dhawan steps out and wacks it for six. SRH 100-1

Over 14: Harbhajan is back, Williamson hits him for a huge six. Singles coming easily. Dhawan hit a huge six. Costly over.  16 runs from the over. SRH: 116-1

Over 15: Willey comes into the attack. Williamson goes over the cover boundary for four. Dhawan swing and goes for four. And this one goes over the bowler's head for four. SRH: 130-1

Over 16: Bravo continues, elegant cover drive for four. Superb shot by Williamson. Single and that is 50 up for Kane. Now Dhawan hits a four. Dhawan plays a bad shot. He is caught at fine leg that was inside the circle. SRH: 141-2

Over 17: Shardul Thakur comes to the attack. Williamson chops one to the third man, and an amazing catch by Bravo. He goes for 51. Manish Pandey and Deepak Hooda are on the crease. Singles for both of them. Hooda hits a four. Good shot. SRH: 149-1

Over 18: Bravo continues, just one. Down the leg, not given as wide. Hooda is LBW, appeal. Reviewed. And the ball is missing the stumps. Overturned. Quick double. Again quick double. Single to end. SRH: 158-3

Over 19: Thakur comes to the attack, double. Bouncer, no run. Manish Pandey hits in the air, gone. Shakib al Hasan is the new man in. Hooda hits a six over Thakur's head. Wide again. Single to Hooda. Single for Shakib to end the over. SRH: 171-4

Over 20: Bravo to bowl the last. Single off the first ball. Good fuller length ball, just one. Shakib pulls for four. Valuable boundary for SRH. Dot ball, brilliant yorker onto the pads. Slower one, a swing and a miss, another dot. Double to end the over. SRH: 179-4 

Sunrisers Hyderabad innings analysis after 20 overs

M S Dhoni won the toss and opted to bowl first. An interesting choice considering the powerful bowling attack of SRH that has defended some small totals throughout the tournament. Shikhar Dhawan and Alex Hales opened the innings for SRH. Deepak Chahar bowled a tight first over, bowling to a great line and length and conceded just 1 run. Shardul Thakur was introduced into the attack. Bowlers were giving no room to the batsmen to loosen up and go for big shots. Thakur was moving the ball in the air. Ended a decent over. David Willey came into the attack from the other end and continued bowling wicket-to-wicket like the other two bowlers. Dhawan managed to hit two consecutive boundaries. SRH were off to a slow start at 16/0 after 3 overs.

Chahar came back to bowl the 4th over. The pressure was building as the bowlers weren't giving too many opportunities to score. The efforts paid off and Hales handed a simple catch at point to Raina. Kane Williamson was the new man in. Chahar was moving the ball well and made it difficult for Williamson to connect the ball. Thakur was back into the attack. Williamson thanked him for a short ball with a boundary. Thakur troubled Williamson for the rest of the over and leaked just one more run. Chahar was getting a nice swing on the ball and Dhoni asked him to continue with his 3rd over. Dhoni was looking for another wicket. SRH batsmen were keen on to just survive the over. SRH posted a low total of just 29/1 in the powerplay.

Spin was brought into the frame for the first in the match with Harbhajan Singh coming in to bowl the 7th over. SRH batsmen identified him as someone they can go after. Singh conceded 10 runs. Dhoni was still looking for a wicket and brought Chahar to bowl the last over of his spell. He got hit for a boundary and followed with consecutive wide deliveries. Chahar ended a wonderful spell leaking just 16 runs and a wicket. Shane Watson was introduced into the attack. Batsmen looked to penetrate the off-side in the square region but Dhoni had planned for it beforehand with a fielder in place for square-cuts. Batsmen couldn't go for big shots and   Watson bowled a tidy over, conceding just 2 runs in it. SRH stood at 51/1 after 9 overs.

Dhoni kept making bowling changes and rotated between Bravo, Jadeja and Watson for the 10th, 11th and 12th over. Both the batsmen were well settled on the crease and looked to accelerate the innings.Scoring rate bypassed 12 during these three overs and 38 runs came in total. Jadeja continued with the 13th over and the punishment continued as he conceded 11 runs. SRH were looking to change gears and stood at 100/1 after 13 overs.

Harbhajan returned from the other end and was welcomed with a maximum straight down the ground by Williamson. A couple of singles and Dhawan joined the party with a six of his own towards on-side. David Willey was brought back into the attack and the batsmen didn't spare him either. Three boundaries and the 100-run partnership came up for the duo. It didn't matter who the next bowler was as both the batsmen were hitting every ball hard. Both the batsmen had reached their fifty and the bowler were finding it difficult to stop the flow of runs. But Bravo got the much-needed breakthrough for CSK, when Dhawan committed himself early for a reverse hit and handed a simple catch to Harbhajan Singh. SRH were 141/2 after 16 overs.

Manish Pandey was the new man in. Shardul Thakur was into the attack and CSK was back into the the game with Williamson's wicket off the very first ball. Bravo took a wonderful catch at thrid man and Williamson had to depart. Deepak Hooda was the next man in. Both the batsmen were new on the crease and took some balls to settle in. Hooda took some pressure off of himself and went for a boundary in long-off region. Bravo continued from the other end. No big shots were coming in but some quick running between the wickets kept the scoreboard moving. Shardul Thakur returned with his last over. CSK bowlers doing well for the team in the death overs. Manish Pandey, wanting to add some quick runs threw his wicket away. Shakib al Hasan was the next man on the crease. Thakur followed the wicket-taking delivery with consecutive wides outside-off. Hooda anticipated well on the next delivery and walked a few steps towards off-side leaving the stumps unattended and hit a maximum straight down the ground. Bravo came in to bowl the last over of the innings and SRH looked to add some crucial runs in case D/L system comes into play as the weather had changed during the innings. SRH put up a decent score of 179/4 after 20 overs.

 
Here are a few things to know about the Chennai Super Kings vs Sunrisers Hyderabad (CSK vs SRH) match to be played at Maharashtra Cricket Stadium in Pune, the two teams' players who could prove handy, and who has said what before the clash:
 
What SRH head coach Tom Moody said about Kane Williamson T20 batting ahead of today’s IPL match (CSK vs SRH): Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper Kane Williamson has been a revelation this season both with the bat and with his leadership skills, and the team's head coach Tom Moody said he wasn't surprised at all as the New Zealand batsman has been a good T20 player for a number of years. To be honest it has not been a surprise to us. Kane (Williamson) has been a good T20 player for a number of years. It is really an opportunity for people watching to see the versatility in Kane Williamson," he said. "He has got a T20 hundred, I think about four years ago in the Champions League. It is no surprise to us that Kane has the ability to adapt from Test cricket to 50-over cricket, down to T20 cricket. That is why we bought him four years ago," Moody said on the eve of their IPL match against Chennai Super Kings (CSK vs SRH).
 
What SRH’s Sandeep Sharma said about his team’s performance ahead of today’s IPL match (CSK vs SRH): Despite becoming the first team to confirm their place in the playoffs of the ongoing 11th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Sunrisers Hyderabad pace bowler Sandeep Sharma has said that there is still a room for improvement going into another clash. Rishabh Pant's blistering knock went in vain as Sunrisers Hyderabad thrashed Delhi Daredevils by nine wickets in their IPL clash at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in the national capital to book their spot in playoffs. Following the win, Sandeep insisted that though they were performing well, they still needed to work on every department to improve their chances of making it to the finals. "There is no team or player who is perfect. There are a lot of things that we need to improve like fielding, game awareness, even batting or bowling can be further improved. It doesn't matter how well you are doing, there is still room for improvement. Going forward, we need to have plans for a player like Rishabh, who is playing really well on a given day. We need to figure out how to reduce the damage he does. So we'll discuss that in the remaining matches," Sandeep said in a post-match conference.
 
Dhoni is fastest stumper against spinners, says Mike Hussey: Heaping praise on skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batting coach Mike Hussey has termed the former India Test wicket-keeper as the man having the fastest draw of as far as stumping off spinners is concerned. "My observations are he's (Dhoni) got to be the fastest in the world against the spinners in taking the bails off. He's unbelievably quick," said the former Australia player after CSK had routed Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by six wickets in an IPL match. Dhoni had effected quick-silver stumping, taking the bails off in a flash, to send back top South Africa batsman AB de Villiers and Murugan Ashwin of the RCB, both off Harbhajan Singh, to help CSK stop the strong visitors at 127 for 9 that was overhauled by the hosts by 12 balls to spare.
 
 
Replacing Warner is impossible, says SRH skipper Williamson: Named captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad after the banned David Warner was ruled out of the Indian Premier League's 11th edition, Kane Williamson today said it's "impossible to be a replacement" for the explosive Australian opener in the T20 franchise's setup. "I don't think it's a matter of replacing David Warner. I think that's probably an impossible thing to do. He is one of the best T20 batters in the world and for this franchise in the last few years," Williamson said.
 
The team head to head ahead of IPL today’s match, Chennai Super Kings vs Sunrisers Hyderabad (CSK vs SRH)
 
Overall: Matches – 8 
Chennai Super Kings won – 6 
 
Sunrisers Hyderabad won – 2