Sunrisers Hyderabad 194 for 9 (Abhishek 59, Klaasen 59, Kamboj 3-22, Overton 3-37) beat Chennai Super Kings 184 for 8 (Mhatre 34, Malinga 3-29, Reddy 2-31) by 10 runs
Sunrisers Hyderabad pulled a victory out of nowhere thanks to four unheralded bowlers taking the smallest chance given to them. Chennai Super Kings were 62 for 1 on the back of two of their own unheralded bowlers nailing the death overs and setting up their strong batting line-up to chase 194. At one point, ESPNcricinfo’s forecaster had the first innings total reaching 237.
CSK needed 84 off 60 balls with seven wickets in hand. They should have pulled off their first 190-plus chase in eight years. But Eshan Malinga (3-29), Nitish Kumar Reddy (2-31), Shivang Kumar (1-18) and Sakib Hossain (1-32) just wouldn’t let them. On paper, there were weak links. On the field, there was none. Each of those fours bowlers had an economy rate of 8 or lower, and each of them picked up at least one wicket. Shivang dismissed Dewald Brevis for 0. Sakib wrecked Shivam Dube’s stumps and killed off all CSK hope. In the end, their contribution to victory was bigger than Abhishek Sharma’s 15-ball fifty and Heinrich Klaasen’s 33-ball fifty, respectively.
CSK picked Matt Short over Akeal Hosein primarily so they could target Abhishek and Travis Head with offspin. For two overs it worked. CSK gambled on a third, and it backfired. Abhishek moved from 26 off 10 balls to 50 off 15 by moving leg side and making the room he needed to free his arms. Short had succeeded because he wasn’t giving any of that, but he couldn’t cope when the batter changed strategies.
Jamie Overton is 7 for 86 in the middle overs this season. He is its third-highest wicket-taker in this phase of the innings, and his success comes from his hit-the-deck style of bowling. CSK have also course-corrected a little bit. They threw him into the death overs against Tim David in Bengaluru, and he got pulverised.
Over the last three matches, though, Overton has been given a role more suited to his strengths, and he has responded beautifully. The ball to dismiss Abhishek, minutes after he had been dropped for 51, was a brute, rearing up at the unsuspecting batter, and snagging his edge through to the keeper. Only Prasidh Krishna (7.2), Jofra Archer (11.4) and Prince Yadav (12.1) have a better bowling average than Overton (14.6) when they all go into the wicket.
For three straight IPLs, Klaasen had maintained a strike rate above 170. This time it’s down in the 140s. He is starting slow. He is being more selective with his shots. The upshot of all this caution is three fifties in six innings. Despite this change in his batting, Klaasen remained just as destructive against wristspin as he has always been, surprising Noor Ahmad with a switch hit in the 13th over. Klaasen made 24 of his 59 runs against Noor at a strike rate of 185. The other SRH batters totalled 9 off 11.
Kamboj, Gurjapneet boss the death
In pre-season, CSK really dove into turning Anshul Kamboj into a death bowler. They understood it was a gaping hole in their team dynamics. The worst of it was felt in Bengaluru, when soon after he dismissed David with a pin-point yorker from around the wicket, it was revealed that he had overstepped. Kamboj nailed the yorker in Hyderabad too, and Klaasen dragged it onto his stumps. This time the no-ball did not show up.
SRH ended facing the last 16 balls of their innings without their best source of boundaries. Gurjapneet Singh, from the other end, alternated between going for the blockhole and getting the back-of-the-hand slower ball to kick up off the pitch. Together, this unlikely duo recorded a nice little high: where all 18 of the last 18 deliveries had to be bowled in IPL 2026, CSK giving just 17 runs slots in right behind one of the best bowling teams of the tournament – Gujarat Titans’ effort, against Kolkata Knight Riders, when they gave up just 15 runs in overs 18, 19 and 20.
CSK outscored SRH in the powerplay – 76 for 3 to 75 for 2 – and the reason for it was a man who started the season being bounced out. Ayush Mhatre now has 68 runs against fast bowling at a strike rate of 226.66. He laid waste to Praful Hinge, teaching him not to bowl short with a down-to-up pull shot for six, and leaving him backed against that corner as he drove on the up over the off side again and again. Mhatre hit five boundaries in that over – the third of the innings. He was batting like he had never heard of a concept called running between the wickets. Ironically enough, that’s what did him in.
Mhatre injured himself responding to a quick two from Ruturaj Gaikwad. The physio had to come out twice in two balls. In the dugout, there was heightened tension. Head coach Stephen Fleming couldn’t sit still, while batting coach Mike Hussey looked pensive. From the days of the dad’s army, this team’s fortunes now swing up or down based on an 18-year-old’s output. On Saturday, it swung inexorably down. CSK made 62 for 1 in 4.1 overs. Mhatre pulled up on 4.2. CSK spent the next 8.4 overs barely knowing where their next boundary was coming from. They made 58 runs and lost four wickets.
CSK know what it feels like to be on the wrong side of a Malinga. They lost a title that way. Seven years later, their efforts to put a simple league game out of sight was being blocked by a man with the same name.
Eshan Malinga bounced Gaikwad out. His ability to access the yorker length – or close to it – produced two more wickets. Short (34 off 30 balls) and Sarfaraz Khan (25 off 19) were left ruing how well they had hit those balls, because all their power really did was make sure the ball carried to deep midwicket.
Dube continued to struggle in the finisher’s role as CSK’s chase fizzled out. They were favourites at the halfway mark of the chase, needing just 84 off 60 balls. Not being able to pull that off is another example of how their flawed mega-auction strategy is still following them.
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