Abhishek Sharma attributed his power knock (he scored 37 off 12 balls and was dismissed in the third over) against Chennai Super Kings to his observations about the Hyderabad surface, which he expected to diminish once the ball aged.
“While we were bowling, we felt it was a bit [of a] slow window. So we knew that somehow if we took on the powerplay then we could go with the flow after that,” Abhishek, the Man of the Match in Sunrisers Hyderabad’s six-wicket win, told the host broadcaster after of the game. “We had a chance to prepare much before the IPL. We knew it was going to be a little slow. But not much. “If we face the bowler, it will be difficult for him too.”
It was Abhishek’s second Man of the Match award, having taken home the trophy following his 23-ball 63 against Mumbai Indians.
Aiden Markram, who took charge after Abhishek’s fall and scored a calm 50 off 36 balls, echoed his teammates’ thoughts. “We saw when we bowled the first ten overs [that] everything was going well. And after that, it became more and more difficult. [to score quickly on]. When we bat, we really look to take on the top ten and hopefully get to a good enough position from there,” he said. “In the powerplay, you’ve seen for a long time that teams have taken it on and that It is the correct way. way forward.”
The new strip made life a challenge for batsmen at a place where batting records were broken for fun just a week earlier when SRH took on Mumbai Indians. Sent into bat on Friday, CSK reached 84 for 2 after the ten-over mark. But once the ball grew, scoring runs became difficult, and SRH’s quicks slowed it down while getting the length right.
CSK managed just 50 runs in their last seven overs and lost three wickets in the process; only Shivam Dube’s 24-ball 45 gave them a decent total.
“Fortunately we have a lot of fast bowlers. Shivam was hitting them pretty well against spin so I thought we would take the opportunity with some cutters,” Pat Cummins said of his team’s tactics. It worked well as Cummins, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jaydev Unadkat of the quicks scored less than eight and over and T Natarajan, the fourth quick, conceded runs at a respectable 9.75.
“In the final part, they bowled very well and kept the game under control,” Cummins’ counterpart Ruturaj Gaikwad said. “In the last five overs we couldn’t capitalize. At first we were in a pretty good situation, 80 [84] for 2 in the middle stage. But they came back and played really well at the end.
“As the ball grew, it got slower and slower and we couldn’t take advantage of it at the end, plus they took advantage of the conditions very well.”
Travis Head and Aiden Markram consolidated after the fall of Abhishek Sharma•BCCI
CSK’s hopes of defending 165 were quickly dashed by Abhishek and Travis Head, who added 46 for the first wicket in 16 balls. Moeen Ali dropped Head on the second ball of the innings at slip off Deepak Chahar, and Abhishek hit Mukesh Choudhary for 27 runs in the second over. CSK had no way back.
“I think 170-175 was still an even score, given that we would have had a great power play to start in the bowling department,” Gaikwad said. “But we didn’t have a great powerplay with a failed catch and a great over. To drag the game to the 18th over was a great effort.”
Markram took the game forward, first adding 60 runs with Head and then 26 runs with Shahbaz Ahmed. SRH slowed down in the middle overs but the platform made their lives easier as they crossed the line with 11 balls to spare.
“As the ball got a little older and softer, it started to slow down and spin a little bit and obviously got a little harder,” Markram said. “When you’re in a tough spot, you still have to assess the batsman, you need to assess that position.”
