Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) earned their first win of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 season at the expense of Chennai Super Kings (CSK), beating the defending champions by eight wickets. On the other hand, CSK were once again held back by their opponents, losing their fourth straight match in the ongoing season.
This is only the second time that CSK have lost four consecutive matches in the IPL. The last time this happened was back in the 2010 edition of the season. It has to be noted that in both instances, their former skipper MS Dhoni was not leading the team when such sequences began.
Sharing his thoughts on the defeat to SRH in the post-match presentation, current CSK skipper Ravindra Jadeja said, "Didn't get the start of what we were looking for. 20-25 short. Our bowlers were looking to bowl in good areas early on, trying to take wickets. Will look to improve in both departments. We're all professional cricketers, need to work hard on our game, stick together and try to come back."
Meanwhile, coach Stephen Fleming blamed CSK's losing streak on the unavailability of pacer Deepak Chahar and an overall below-par show in all departments, "There has been issues of player availability and we have been pretty much below par in all departments - batting, bowling and fielding.
"We haven't been able to put any pressure on the opposition and there hasn't been any close games. We have been distant second in all games and we need to improve in all departments -- that's pretty much it," he added.
The best batter for the side was Moeen Ali, who scored 48 runs in 35 balls, with three fours and two sixes under his belt. Dhoni also hit a personal low after being dismissed for just three runs, his lowest against SRH in the IPL. He and Shivam Dube (3) were the only CSK players with single-digit runs.
With the Chennai innings seemingly collapsing, Ravindra Jadeja scored a 15-ball 23 to lift his side to a total of 154 runs.
SRH made short work of the total, with uncapped batter Abhishek Sharma hitting 75 runs off 50 balls alongside skipper Kane Williamson, who scored a 40-ball 32. By the time Rahul Tripathi entered the field, SRH needed just 65 runs to win the match.
But the explosive batter smashed a 15-ball 39 at a strike rate of 260.00, with five fours and two sixes to seal the win for SRH with 14 balls and eight wickets to spare.
