CSK vs SRH, IPL 2024: Cummins defends batting approach; Hussey lavishes praise on Gaikwad

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) proved that its home loss to Lucknow Super Giants was a blip, as the men in yellow defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by 78 runs in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 clash at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday.

Chasing 213, SRH never seemed to be in contention after Tushar Deshpande dismantled the top order with four wickets.

He removed the dangerous opening pair of Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head, as well as Anmolpreet Singh for a golden duck, all in the PowerPlay.

Pat Cummins, the visiting team captain, was quick to admit his side’s shortcomings during the post-match press conference. “It’s hard to put a finger on it. There’s nothing really that went to plan tonight. It feels pretty well suited for chasing, but it hasn’t come off yet, so we have something to work on.”

LSG’s chase of 211 against CSK in their clash on Tuesday demonstrated the impact of dew in Chepauk in the second innings.

When asked if he dew helped batters in the second innings on Sunday, Cummins said, “There’s definitely dew here; I haven’t seen much so far anywhere else in other venues, but we didn’t make the most of it. And they bowled really well, so the dew didn’t factor in as much as we would have liked.”

Sunrisers’ approach in batting has been very clear. The Cummins-led SRH does not believe in taking half-measures. “T20 is always being heard on the batting side. There are more 200s kind of games than the 120s games. The way we set up, I think that’s the best chance for us because we got some aggressive batters, and that’s our best way to win a tournament by playing like the way we are,” said the skipper.

While speaking on Hyderabad’s bowler’s role, he said, “To be honest, I don’t have that many options. It’s not Test cricket, where the ball is swinging around and there are sideways movements. There’s not much in the wicket, so a lot of the team, your best way to get a wicket is to try to defend. The batters are getting better and better at hitting the ball out of the stadium. The challenge is on our bowlers, but I still think when you have a big total as we’ve had… 260, 270s, you will feel like you can make a big impact as a bowler by going for nine runs per over, and that could be match-winning.

It’s Sunrisers’ second loss in a row after failing to chase 207 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at home on Thursday. The top order failed while chasing 200-plus totals on both occasions.

“When the openers have gone off, it’s been crazy, and everyone’s fallen behind. A few totals that we’ve set up well. In Delhi, we got ourselves into a little bit of a rut. But middle to lower order built back up so that things got some big scores. They almost got over the line against KKR from our middle order. So there have been different batters throughout the tournament that have set up. Obviously, the openers have been fantastic and tonight, we probably needed two or three guys to make a big impact, but it just never really got going, unfortunately,” he said.

Ruturaj Gaikwad played a fine innings, steering CSK to 212, which eventually turned out to be a match-winning total.

The Chennai skipper, however, missed out on his second consecutive IPL ton just by two runs after holing out to Nitish Reddy off T. Natarajan in the 20th over.

CSK vs SRH Report – Gaikwad’s 98 sets up Chennai Super Kings’ 78-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad

CSK batting coach Mike Hussey has all but praise for their young skipper. “He is such a wonderful player. He’s a great timer of the cricket ball. He is a smart batter as well; he knows when to attack, when to just soak up a bit of pressure, he plays spin so well, he plays fast bowling so well, and he can scroll all around the ground. He’s almost one step ahead of the bowlers a lot of the time,” said Hussey.

“It’s been challenging for him as well. He has taken over the captaincy role from arguably the greatest captain of all time in this country, MS Dhoni, and has been able to come in to do that and keep his batting standards up very high as well,” he concluded.