07 April,2024 07:15 AM IST | Mumbai | N Jagannath Das
SRH’s Abhishek Sharma during his 37 against CSK in Hyderabad on Friday. Pic/PTI
It was a different pitch made from black soil. However, that did not matter to Sunrisers Hyderabad, who registered their second successive win at home, defeating big brother Chennai Super Kings by six wickets. Unlike the first home match against Mumbai Indians where Sunrisers Hyderabad racked up a record 277-3 in their 31-run win, Friday's match saw the teams grappling with a slow wicket. The first match was played on a mixed black and red soil pitch.
"It was a different soil and slowed up as the game went on,'' said SRH captain Pat Cummins after the match. The Aussie captain said they changed their strategy, especially after Shivam Dube started hitting the spinners. Cummins gambled on bringing the fast bowlers back. "We took a chance with the fast bowlers bowling cutters," said Cummins.
The dismissal of the big-hitting left-hander Dube changed the momentum in favour of the hosts.
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Attacking SRH left-handed opener Abhishek Sharma, who smashed a 12-ball 37, gave a rousing start to his team. "While bowling, we felt it was a slow wicket. So, we wanted to take the Powerplay on. I went with the flow today,'' said Player-of-the-Match Abhishek, who attributed his recent success as a batter to his father (Raj Kumar), Yuvraj Singh and Brian Lara.
CSK coach Stephen Fleming also admitted it was a slow wicket. "We thought we were in a good position in the first 10 overs. We were mindful of a high-scoring game and then we thought the wicket was on the slow side," he opined.
The Kiwi gave credit to the SRH bowlers, particularly the last five overs, in which they conceded only 38 runs. "Give credit for the way Hyderabad bowled. We tried to push for 180-190, but we ran aground. Maybe in hindsight, 180-190 was a possible score," he added.
CSK lost their key bowler Matheesha Pathirana, and in the process, lost the firepower in their bowling with Bangladesh left-arm seamer Mustafizur Rahman also missing the match. "Losing players to injuries is part of the process. We did find [ourselves] short of firepower and we needed a new hero. It didn't happen today," said Fleming.
This was the second successive loss for CSK after losing to Delhi Capitals in Visakhapatnam. After being restricted to 165, CSK had hoped for early wickets but the aggressive SRH opener Abhishek destroyed their plans. "Their kind of batting puts you on the back foot. But we fought back very well. We didn't bowl in the right areas, partly because of their batting and partly because of lack of execution. We didn't create the pressure in the first six overs,'' Fleming rued.
