Defending champions Chennai Super Kings lost their fourth successive game of the season after being outperformed by Sunrisers Hyderabad in match 17 of Indian Premier League 2022.
Once again, CSK batsmen failed to get going, managing only 154 runs in their 20 overs. Ruturaj Gaikwad’s poor form with the bat continued, while his opening partner Robin Uthappa was also had a poor outing. Moeen Ali was the only batter among runs – he scored 48 off 35. Ambati Rayudu and Ravindra Jadeja got starts, but were not able to convert them into substantial knocks. Only three runs came off MS Dhoni’s bat while Dwayne Bravo and Chris Jordan remained unbeaten on 8 and 6 respectively.
Chasing 175, the Sunrisers got off to an excellent start. Their opener Abhishek Sharma top scored with a knock of 75 off 50. Kane Williamson scored 30, while Rahul Tripathi and Nicholas Pooran remained unbeaten on 39 and 5 each. Hyderabad chased down the target in 17.2 overs to improve their net run rate.
Dwayne Bravo and Moeen Ali were expensive with the ball with an economy rate of more than 10.
“It’s with the ball that we are disappointed but we were 20-25 runs short,” Jadeja said after the match.
“We were looking to fight till the end. 155 isn’t bad and our bowlers were looking to take wickets but we’ll look to improve. We’ll talk about where we are lacking. We are professionals and need to work hard, stick together and come back stronger,” the new CSK skipper said.
CSK slipped to the ninth place in the points table after this match, while SRH moved up one position to number 8.
Image credit: IPL
