IPL 2022, SRH vs CSK, Top Performances: Sundar, Natarajan strangle CSK; Abhishek's 75 helps SRH win

IPL 2022, SRH vs CSK, Top Performances: Washington Sundar's 2-21, T Natarajan's 2-30 and Abhishek Sharma's 75* are the top performances.

Abhishek Sharma's 75* helps SRH beat Chennai Super Kings (Images ©BCCI/IPL)

Brief Scores: SRH 155/2 (Abhishek 75, Tripathi 39*, Bravo 1-29) beat CSK 154/7 (Moeen 48, Sundar 2-21, Natarajan 2-30) by 8 wickets

Player of the Match: Abhishek Sharma (75 off 50 deliveries)

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) locked horns with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai on Saturday. Both teams, after consecutive red results, were searching for their maiden victory in the 15th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

In the head-to-head between the two teams, CSK were way ahead with a 12-4 margin against the Orange Army in IPL history. Since 2018, SRH had won just two games against the Whistle Podu side.

Sunrisers captain, Kane Williamson on winning the toss, opted to bowl first. Hyderabad handed debut caps to Shashank Singh and Marco Jansen, while Maheesh Theekshana made his first IPL appearance for Chennai.

Sunrisers Hyderabad earned their maiden win of the season

Asked to bat first, CSK could only reach 154/7 after their allotted 20 overs. Both openers failed to put up a show as CSK found themselves struggling at 68-2 at the halfway mark before receiving some stability from the 62-run partnership between Moeen Ali and Ambati Rayudu. The former missed his half-century as the Yellow Army was restricted to a below par score on a slow surface.

The Sunrisers openers put up an 89-run opening partnership to lay down the winning platform. But it was because of Abhishek Sharma who with his maiden IPL half-century of 75 off just 50 balls and later with good support from Rahul Tripathi in his destructive innings of 39 off just 15 balls, Sunrisers Hyderabad got off the mark in IPL 2022.

On the other hand, Chennai Super Kings for the first time since 2010 have lost four IPL games in a row.

Let’s scan the top performances from the CSK vs SRH,17th game, IPL 2022:

Sundar takes 2-21 and helps SRH beat Chennai Super Kings (Images ©BCCI/IPL)

Washington Sundar (2-21) dried up runs with two top-order wickets

In an afternoon game on a slow surface, the role of a spinner can be so crucial by drying up the runs besides hunting wickets regularly.

Just when Chennai were trying to speed up their run rate in the powerplay, Kane Williamson introduced Washington Sundar into the attack who had a decent record against the opponents with four wickets at an economy of just 6.50.

Sundar straightway made an impact by dismissing Robin Uthappa who tried to smack it out of the ground but could only find Aiden Markram who grabbed a good catch. It was the first time Uthappa got out to the Tamil Nadu spinner after scoring at an express strike rate of 183.5.

The off-spinner kept the run flow down from his end by changing his pace and trying to change his plans according to the batter. Finally, coming into his last over, he sent back Rayudu to break a solid looking partnership. This was the second time Sundar got rid of Rayudu, who had collected just 36 runs from 29 balls against the offie.

The wickets at the important phases halted Chennai’s batting.

Read More: IPL 2022, LSG vs SRH, Top Performances: Avesh Khan's fiery 4-24 helps Lucknow to second straight win

T Natarajan takes 2-30 and helps SRH beat Chennai Super Kings (Images ©BCCI/IPL)

Natarajan picked up crucial wickets to slow down CSK in the middle phase

Even though Chennai Super Kings had lost a wicket in the powerplay, opener Ruturaj Gaikwad, with few glorious shots, was coming into his rhythm.

But he couldn’t stretch his purple patch of scoring 136 runs against SRH as Thangarasu Natarajan on his very first ball dismissed Gaikwad with an excellent inswinger to disturb the furniture. This was also the first ball Gaikwad faced against Natarajan in IPL history making it 0 off 1 in their clash.

Williamson used Natarajan well in different phases of the game as the left-armer was making it hard for the batters by changing his pace and employing good variations. Coming into the 16th over of the game, he sent back Shivam Dube who smashed an attractive half-century in the last game against Punjab Kings (PBKS). Dube, failing to judge the short ball, gifted an easy catch to the third man fielder. This was also the maiden time the left-arm pacer got rid of Dube who in that process could collect 7 off 9 balls.

Read More: IPL 2022, PBKS vs CSK, Top Performances: Livingstone's all-round hand (60 & 2-25) helps Punjab win

Abhishek Sharma notches up his maiden half century in IPL (Images ©BCCI/IPL)

Abhishek Sharma notched up his maiden half-century to gift SRH their first win of IPL 2022

There was quite some pressure on Abhishek Sharma after his failures in the two games in this season and the previous year. But chasing 155 meant, the 21-year-old from Punjab whom Sunrisers pocketed at a high price of INR 6.50 crores, could take some time at the start.

Before the clash, Abhishek Sharma had 51 runs at a strike rate of 113 against the defending champions.

After taking a few balls to get settled, Sharma hit some fabulous shots to get back into his mojo. And with his opening partner, captain Kane Williamson struggling at the top, he took the charge to collect runs in the powerplay.

Soon, he registered his maiden IPL half-century from just 34 deliveries and carried on to play few more effortless shots to grab the spotlight. Finally, with 75 runs in just 50 balls, Sharma ensured that SRH would earn their first win of the season.

There was some good support from destructive Rahul Tripathi who crunched 39 runs off just 15 balls, arranging his knock with five boundaries and couple of sixes to deny any issues at the back end.

IPL 2022 Points Table

IPL 2022 Points Table

What’s to come

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will face Delhi Capitals (DC) in the afternoon game on Sunday at the Brabourne Stadium while Rajasthan Royals (RR) will meet Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Wankhede stadiums in the evening.

Here are some of the Top Twitter Reactions from CSK vs SRH game, IPL 2022:

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