IPL 2020: Williamson's fifty in vain as CSK triumph

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Chennai Super Kings players celebrate the wicket of Sunrisers Hyderabad's Kane Williamson in Dubai on Tuesday night. - BCCI/IPL
Chennai Super Kings players celebrate the wicket of Sunrisers Hyderabad's Kane Williamson in Dubai on Tuesday night. - BCCI/IPL

Dubai - The Kiwi top scores with 57 but the three-time champs pull off 20-run win

By James Jose

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Published: Tue 13 Oct 2020, 10:34 PM

Last updated: Wed 14 Oct 2020, 2:10 PM

After the crash, boom, bang and smashing cars in Sharjah the other night, it was back to earth and normalcy was restored. And in a low-scoring affair in Dubai, the Chennai Super Kings pulled off a much-needed victory against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Tuesday night.
After what has been a topsy-turvy ride so far, by their standards, the three-time IPL champions worked off a 20-run victory at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

Chasing a target of 168, Kane Williamson came up with his first half-century of the season and the 13th of his IPL career.
But the New Zealand captain's 57, which was also the top score of the match, and some late-hitting by Rashid Khan and Vijay Shankar wasn't enough to take them over the line.
Williamson's knock, which came from 39 deliveries, contained seven boundaries.
The Chennai Super Kings were well served by their bowlers after late cameos by Ravindra Jadeja and captain MS Dhoni.
Dwayne Bravo and Karn Sharma took two each, while Sam Curran, Jadeja and Shardul Thakur had one.
"I think ultimately what matters is you get two points," Dhoni said at the post-match presentation.
"What T20 has shown is you have a few games that don't go in your favour, at the same time sometimes you don't earn wins. Today (Tuesday), we did well, with the batting intent. This was one game as close to perfect as possible," he added.
Jadeja, who also took two catches, was adjudged the Man of the Match.
"I'm very happy. When the team's under pressure and you perform with bat and ball, you feel happy. I kept backing myself," said Jadeja.
Sunrisers skipper David Warner felt they were a batsman light.
"The chase didn't take flight. The wicket was a tad on the slow side. Without the extra batter, you almost err on the side of caution. We wanted to take it deep," Warner said.
Earlier, Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Curran, Jadeja and MSD helped the Chennai Super Kings post a competitive score.
Watson and Rayudu made 42 and 41 respectively, while Curran sent up the order to open, fired 31. MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja hit a few lusty blows to add thrust as they finished up with 167-6.
Jadeja remained unbeaten on a 10-ball 25 that had three fours and a six, while Dhoni made 21 from 13 balls with two boundaries and a six as 51 runs came from the last five overs.
Medium pacers Sandeep Sharma picked up two wickets for 19 to take his tally to 99 IPL wickets, while Khaleel Ahmed and T Natarajan too ended up with two scalps apiece.
Watson and Rayudu negated the threat posed by Rashid Khan with the Afghan leg spinner going wicketless for the third time this season and the second instance against Chennai.
The Chennai Super Kings won the toss and skipper MS Dhoni opted to have first go on the wicket. It was the first time since the first qualifier against the Mumbai Indians last season that the three-time winners were batting first. That was a sequence of 10 matches.
Both sides made one change with leg spinner Piyush Chawla replacing young batsman N Jagadeesan for Chennai, while Sunrisers Hyderabad had Shahbaz Nadeem come in for Abhishek Sharma.
The Chennai Super Kings promoted Curran to open along with Faf du Plessis with Shane Watson coming one-down.
This was only the second time that Curran was sent in to open the innings after he had done it with his previous team Kings XI Punjab, against the Delhi Capitals last season.
But the Englishman adapted well to the role, that allowed him to play with freedom. The southpaw took centre stage by hogging the strike and smashed his way to a 21-ball 31.
There were two beautifully struck sixes and three boundaries after du Plessis had fallen for nought. Curran was deceived by a beauty of a delivery from Sandeep Sharma which crashed onto his stumps. 
The Chennai Super Kings got 44 runs from the powerplay for the loss of two wickets and then reached 69 for two in the first 10 overs with Watson on 20 and Ambati Rayudu on 16.
They were 100 for 2 in the middle of the 14th over as Watson and Rayudu put on a crucial stand. The pair added 81 runs for the third wicket before Rayudu holed Khaleel Ahmed to David Warner at long-off.
Rayudu's 34-ball 41 contained three boundaries and two sixes. Watson too followed Rayudu back to the dugout after having anchored the innings. Jadeja and MSD then gave them the impetus.
Brief scores:
Chennai Super Kings: 167-6 in 20 overs (Shane Watson 42, Ambati Rayudu 41, Ravindra Jadeja 25 not out, MS Dhoni 21, Sandeep Sharma 2-19, T Natarajan 2-41, Khaleel Ahmed 2-45) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad: 147-8 in 20 overs (Kane Williamson 57, Jonny Bairstow 23, Dwayne Bravo 2-25, Karn Sharma 2-37) by 20 runs.
Teams:
Chennai Super Kings: Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (C) (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Karn Sharma, Piyush Chawla
Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner (C), Jonny Bairstow (wk), Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Priyam Garg, Vijay Shankar, Rashid Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed, T Natarajan.
james@khaleejtimes.com


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