Skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad missed his second successive IPL century by a whisker, while pacers Tushar Deshpande and Matheesha Pathirana decimated the Sunrisers Hyderabad batting as Chennai Super Kings won their IPL home game by 78 runs at MA Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday.
After Gaikwad scored a 54-ball 98 and shared a 107-run partnership with Daryl Mitchell (52) to give CSK a healthy 212/3, Deshpande (4/27) and Sri Lankan Matheesha Pathirana (2/17) came up with match-winning bowling figures to dismiss SRH for 134 in 18.5 overs.
Deshpande took the wickets of opener Travis Head (13) and Anmolpreet Singh (0) in his first over before getting rid of Abhishek Sharma (15) and captain Pat Cummins (5), while Pathirana got the dangerous Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen to demolish SRH.
Chennai Super Kings successfully backed their method despite not being able to defend 210 in their previous home match against Lucknow Super Giants. Sunrisers Hyderabad's have never beaten CSK at Chepauk and the record continued as they fell short comprehensively despite batting in dewy conditions.
The big win took CSK from sixth to third on the points table, tied on points with SRH and LSG. SRH were left with questions around their chasing methods: they have lost only one when defending but won only one when chasing. Their run rate when chasing falls three points from their 11.74 in the first innings, and the average comes down from nearly 40 to 23.