23/04Result
41st Match (N), Indian Premier League at Chennai, Apr 23 2019
Super Kings won by 6 wickets (with 1 ball remaining)
Player of the Match
Shane Watson
Shane WatsonChennai Super Kings
23/04Result
41st Match (N), Indian Premier League at Chennai, Apr 23 2019
Super Kings won by 6 wickets (with 1 ball remaining)
Player of the Match
Shane Watson
Shane WatsonChennai Super Kings
18.6
W
Chahar to Shankar, OUT, another slower short ball, and this time he can't manufacture either the power or the placement he wants with the front-foot pull, and scoops a catch to deep midwicket

V Shankar c Jadeja b Chahar 26 (25m 20b 2x4 1x6) SR: 130.00

18.5
4
Chahar to Shankar, FOUR runs, slower short ball outside off, and Vijay waits a long time and uses his reach and bottom wrist to pull that off the front foot to the square leg boundary
18.4
1
Chahar to Pandey, 1 run, down the track and Chahar shortens his length. Pandey looks to shovel it over mid-off, and Raina, turning around and running back towards the boundary, drops the ball as it falls into his hands from over his shoulder
17.4
4
Bravo to Shankar, FOUR runs, shot. That's very full, and not far from off stump, and he's gone really deep in the crease with his back foot to be able to create room for elevation, and he's lifted it over the fielder at cover point
16.2
6
Imran Tahir to Pandey, SIX runs, shot! Drags it a touch short outside off, and Pandey swats it away over the midwicket boundary
14.2
6
Imran Tahir to Shankar, SIX runs, wrong'un, and he's picked it. Tossed up outside off, and he swings smoothly through the line to launch it over long-on

Vijay: "Is it so hot in Chennai, it looks like David Warner was too tired ? " -- He did seem to be tiring.

13.3
W
Harbhajan Singh to Warner, OUT, sharp turn, and Dhoni's appealing for a stumping! And Warner's walking, Nicely bowled by Harbhajan, bowled it slower and held it back a little. It's dropping onto a good length just outside off, not quite full enough for the slog against the turn, and Warner is early on the shot too. The length forces him to reach for the ball, and that causes his back foot to slide out of the crease. The rest is left to Dhoni's fast hands - excellent work, since the ball bounced quite a bit, and he had to rise to his toes to collect the ball and then complete the stumping

DA Warner st †Dhoni b Harbhajan Singh 57 (63m 45b 3x4 2x6) SR: 126.66

12.3
1
Jadeja to Warner, 1 run, tossed up slower and Warner goes for the old-fashioned heave with the turn. Plays too early and inside-edges past leg stump

Stays round the wicket to Warner.

12.1
4
Jadeja to Pandey, FOUR runs, and that's some welcome back. Down the track first ball as Jadeja spears one down on leg stump. Skips away from the line to make swinging room, and absolutely monsters it back over the bowler's head

Here's Jadeja.

A: "Has the pitch flattened out or is it just really good batting from srh?" -- There's still turn on offer, but it's not as slow as some of the earlier Chennai pitches.

10.5
4
Bravo to Pandey, FOUR runs, short slower one angling into Pandey's hip, and that's nicely played, rolls his wrists over on top of the bounce and helps it to the left of short fine leg. Brings up his fifty too. He's looked so good today, a completely different player to the diffident one from earlier in the season.
10.1
4
Bravo to Pandey, FOUR runs, full on off stump, stays a little leg side of the ball to create room, and he brings his bottom hand into a jab-drive that easily beats deep point to his right

Bravo.

9.4
6
Imran Tahir to Pandey, SIX runs, googly on middle, spotted early and taken full toll of as Pandey extends his arms and launches it over long-on
8.5
6
Jadeja to Warner, SIX runs, length on middle and Warner nails the slog sweep and clears deep midwicket easily
6.1
4
Jadeja to Warner, FOUR runs, full on middle and Warner drags it between deep midwicket and long-on, couple of bounces and into the boundary
5.5
4
Harbhajan Singh to Pandey, FOUR runs, short outside off, Pandey uses the depth of his crease and punches it through the vacant cover region
5.2
4
Harbhajan Singh to Pandey, FOUR runs, length and angled in, tickled it fine, beating the man at leg slip, and after that there was no stopping it
4.3
4
Chahar to Pandey, FOUR runs, full on off and he nearly takes the bowler's head in his follow through as he blasts this flat, hard and down the ground
4.1
4
Chahar to Warner, FOUR runs, length on off and that's an outrageous stroke on a slow pitch! Presents a straight bat and punches it past the bowler off the backfoot
3.6
6
Harbhajan Singh to Pandey, SIX runs, full outside off, another straighter one, overpitched again, Pandey extends his arms and goes over the mid-off, the timing carries it over the boundary
3.1
6
Harbhajan Singh to Warner, SIX runs, tossed up on middle, enticing the batsman and Warner obliges, goes through the line and down the ground, launching it over the bowler's head
2.4
4
Chahar to Warner, FOUR runs, length on middle, out comes the short-arm pull and he not only controls it well but times it excellently as it races to the deep midwicket boundary
1.4
4
Harbhajan Singh to Pandey, FOUR runs, full on off, Pandey lofts it over the bowler's head for four. It was overpitched but what a shot to get off the mark
1.3
W
Harbhajan Singh to Bairstow, OUT, looks to cut and pays the price! Straighter one on off, too close and full for the stroke, resulting in a thick outside edge, excellently pouched by Dhoni

JM Bairstow c †Dhoni b Harbhajan Singh 0 (9m 2b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00

0.1
0
Chahar to Warner, no run, full on middle, nice shape into the batsman, defended back to the bowler

Chennai Super Kings: 1 Shane Watson, 2 Faf du Plessis, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Ambati Rayudu, 5 Kedar Jadhav, 6 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Dwayne Bravo, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Deepak Chahar, 11 Imran Tahir

Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1 David Warner, 2 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 3 Vijay Shankar, 4 Manish Pandey, 5 Shakib Al Hasan, 6 Yusuf Pathan, 7 Deepak Hooda, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar (capt), 10 Khaleel Ahmed, 11 Sandeep Sharma

7.50pm Chennai Super Kings' last eight tosses: WWWWWWWW. They've lost just two of the 11 tosses so far!

With that startling fact, I shall hand over commentary duties to my colleague Ankur Dhawan.

Vidur: "Do note that: Dhoni is worse when the ball turns away from him, and Shakib does that while Nabi tens it towards him and Dhoni is csk's best batsman" -- And Raina is the only left-hander in Super Kings' top six.

Sharma: "Why did SRH not bring in Nabi? He's been real good in the opportunities he got. Hasn't fired yet with the bay but is very handy to it's the bat as well. I would pick him much ahead of Shakib." -- This Sidharth Monga piece might have the answer you're looking for.

Jindal: "Since when Warner, Bairstow will not be available?" -- This is Bairstow's last game of the season. Warner, I guess, was supposed to stay for the full season.

Ajmal Hidayatul: "I think Mitchell Santner should have played today instead of Shane Watson"

Rohit: "Why isn't Abishek Sharma given a chance? He picked up an important wicket in his first match and can help solidify the lower-middle order with his batting. He is also a better fielder than Pathan. "

Venky: "Why not just replace kane with shakib and play three spinners? It's chepauk after all" -- Pandey adds to the batting depth. I guess they must have considered leaving out Sandeep or Khaleel rather than Nadeem.

KL: "Wow! CSK are playing three spinners and SRH are playing three genuine seamers! Is this going to be the difference?"

7.30pm It's time for the toss. MS Dhoni has won it, and Super Kings will bowl first.

"We would have bowled first as well," Bhuvneshwar Kumar says.

One change for Super Kings. Harbhajan Singh replaces Shardul Thakur. Manish Pandey returns for Sunrisers, Shahbaz Nadeem is out. Shakib Al Hasan has replaced Williamson.

Shivam: "Mumbai replaced Joseph with Beuran but Punjab aren't allowed to replace Moises...why??" -- Good question. Apparently, the rule says you can seek a replacement if the player suffers an injury in the first half of the season. Henriques' injury fell within the second half.

7.20pm His go-to shots haven't been getting him runs, and he's struggled to rotate the strike. Deivarayan Muthu ponders whether Chennai Super Kings might be better off benching Shane Watson.

Abhinav: "For all the talks to drop Watson, he has played shots before perishing. Just needs that little stroke of luck, a dropped catch, a no ball or something. I feel he's going to do something big today"

Vignesh: "Whom to pick for fantasy league ..?? MSD or Bairstow .?? ( Only 1 WK is allowed )" -- I have terrible luck at fantasy cricket, but if you still want me to pick one, I'll go with Bairstow.

KL: "Can Statsguru list out the number of Biriyani places in Chennai and Hyderabad?! @Karthik, can you DM Bharath Seervi?"

Ankit Gupta: "The two biggest surprises of IPL 2019: DC at the top of the table and RCB at the bottom of the table. " -- At the risk of angering RCB fans, is the latter really that much of a surprise?

7.15pm Our man Deivarayan Muthu is at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, and he's spotted a bit of potentially significant activity. "Looks like Harbhajan Singh has recovered from his neck complaint," he says. "He has had a fairly long stint at the nets along with Mitchell Santner."

Soumith Potturi: "Cliche comment alert : It's Hyderabadi Biryani Vs Idly Sambar" -- It's a tired, terrible cliche! Chennai has more biryani places per square kilometer than pretty much every other major Indian city (apart from Hyderabad, I guess).

Sijad: "I would play Martin Guptill in for Williamson and play Bairstow at No.3. Guptill is surely needed in the last few matches and he will get a good practice against quality spinners of CSK before the playoffs as all the playoffs are played in slow and low tracks."

7.10pm "You should have told me that I'd be on camera. Would have done my hair." That's how Jonny Bairstow began his interview with Varun Shetty. And then went on to dissect his batting, running with David Warner, and life at Sunrisers Hyderabad in great depth.

Mageshwar Selva: "Loss of Kane today a blessing in disguise for SRH!!! Nabi a better option to play in Chennai" -- Will they play Nabi or Shakib, though? Not a lot of left-handers in the Super Kings top order.

Nishchal Sapkot: "Would love to see M Vijay open today instead of Watson and play S Billings in the middle order." -- Wouldn't mind watching some vintage Vijay drives and flicks myself. It's been too long!

Mustafa Moudi: "The Habit of Unnecessarily taking chases to the last over has cost them their Top Spot in the Points Table Today. I know its not the end of the league stage yet, but its just an example of how the NRR matters at the business end of the season !!"

KL: "Watson or Billings? I'd wanna go with Billings!"

Ajay: "Return fixtures within six days and we have - four captains..!! Kane Williamson Vs Raina then, Thala MSD Vs Bhuvi now..!! Hope Change of fortunes for both teams and let Thala's CSK roar to win at the #Den..!! CSK ku #Whistlepodu..!!"

7.00pm Evening, everyone, and welcome to round two of the 3D derby, otherwise known as Chennai Super Kings versus Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Apart from that little subplot, there's the bigger issue of two teams looking to firm up their top-two ambitions, as the league stage nears its closing stages. Super Kings have lost their last two games, and are looking to arrest that slide, while Sunrisers have won their last two, but are bracing for the effect of their two high-impact openers, Jonny Bairstow and David Warner, leaving for their respective teams' World Cup preparations.

Before that, however, there's one immediate concern for Sunrisers. Kane Williamson has returned to New Zealand following the death of his grandmother, and won't be available today.

Match Coverage

All Match News

Super Kings 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st3SR WatsonF du Plessis
2nd77SR WatsonSK Raina
3rd80AT RayuduSR Watson
4th15AT RayuduKM Jadhav
5th1DJ BravoKM Jadhav