Ruturaj and Conway sizzle as Super Kings outshine Sunrisers
The Hindu
Openers put on a record 182-run stand to blunt the Hyderabad attack; Washington’s injury doesn’t help Williamson’s side; Mukesh’s four-for puts the skids on SRH’s chase
Ruturaj Gaikwad and Mukesh Choudhary marked their return to home turf in style while Devon Conway gave his Indian Premier League franchise a perfect return gift for his wedding as Chennai Super Kings scored a 13-run win against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the MCA Stadium on Sunday.
Riding on a record 182-run opening partnership — CSK’s highest-ever in the IPL, eclipsing the unbroken 181 between Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis against Kings XI Punjab in Dubai in October 2020 — Super Kings scored a mammoth 202 for two.
Mukesh then didn’t let his poor fielding — he dropped a sitter from Abhishek Sharma off Maheesh Theekshana — spoil his confidence with the ball. The left-arm pacer registered his best T20 figures (four for 46) to seal the deal.
Mukesh’s strikes off successive balls in the last two balls of the PowerPlay — Abhishek Sharma holed out to long-on and Rahul Tripathi to short third-man — gave Super Kings the edge. The pacer had to wait till the 18th over for his hat-trick ball. Even though Shashank Singh struck him over mid-off to thwart it, Mukesh took two more wickets in the same over.
The Super Kings spin trio of Ravindra Jadeja, Theekshana and Mitchell Santner produced an impressive performance on a strip that offered turn.
While skipper M.S. Dhoni used them for 10 overs combined, the lack of a quality spinner haunted the Sunrisers as the Chennai openers made merry against the pacers.
Washington Sundar, the lone specialist spinner in the Sunrisers ranks, injured his bowling hand in the fourth over while trying to stop a Ruturaj pull on the square-leg boundary. His absence forced skipper Kane Williamson to use Aiden Markram and Shashank for four overs and it cost the side 46 runs.
Asian Games champion Avinash Sable opened his season in the 3000m steeple chase with a silver in the Portland Track Festival, a World Athletics Continental Tour bronze event, in Oregon on Saturday. He clocked 8:21.85s. Asian champion Parul Chaudhary took the bronze in the women’s 3000m steeple chase in a season-best 9:31.38s. Former Asian bronze medallist Sanjivani Jadhav struck gold in the women’s 10,000m in 32:22.77s, a time which was a second off her personal best, while Seema was sixth in 32:55.91s.