The dazzling duo of Devon Conway and Ravindra Jadeja produced stunning performances to help Chennai Super Kings (CSK) thrash Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets at the Chepauk Stadium on Friday (April 21).
Jadeja displayed his spin wizardry and bowled a spectacular spell of 3/22 to limit the Orange Army to a paltry 134/7. In reply, Devon Conway smashed a magnificent 77 off 57 riding on 12 fours and a six to make lightwork of a lowly total with eight balls to spare.
A solid 87-run partnership between Ruturaj Gaikwad (30-ball 35) and Conway (unbeaten 57) for opening wicket propelled four-time champions CSK to a convincing win and didn't give an iota of chance to SRH to grab the hold of the match even once. Mayank Markande was the pick of the bowler for SRH with 2/23 as barring him none of the bowlers could pose any threat to CSK's batters who dominated through and through.
Earlier, CSK won the toss and prompted SRH to bat first. Aiden Markram-led 'Orange Army' choked yet again against CSK's spin web. Jadeja once again brought his ‘A’ game to the fore, and cast spell on Hyderabad's batters with his best show in IPL 2023 so far to reduce the opponent to a below par total of 134/7. Jadeja gave the marching orders to Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi (21 off 21) and Mayank Agarwal (2). Abhishek remained the top scorer for SRH as he smashed a decent 34 off 26 but was sent back to the pavilion by quick stumping from skipper MS Dhoni. Besides Jadeja, Maheesh Theekshana (1/27) too shone with the ball. CSK spinner bowled a total of 10 overs in which they scalped 4 wickets while conceding 62 runs.
Conway gave a spectacular start to CSK when he took Marco Jansen to cleaners in the sixth over and banged 22 runs in five balls riding on a six and four boundaries. He completed his fifty in 33 balls by 10th over. Soon after his half century, SRH got their first wicket after Conway chipped a shot towards Umran Malik, who touched the ball before it dislodged the stumps which scripted Gaikwad's run-out. However, Conway continued his blitzkrieg and belted SRH bowlers left, right and centre. Conway remained unbeaten on 77 and Moeen Ali hit the winning runs.
With this win CSK are now third on the IPL 2023's points table with eight points riding on four victories in a total of six matches. Meanwhile, SRH are reeling at the ninth spot in the standings with just two wins in six games.
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