HYDERABAD: Sunrisers Hyderabad batting unit imploded despite Abhishek Sharma's rollicking half-century as Chennai Super Kings pacers Jamie Overton and Anshul Kamboj headlined a fine bowling show to restrict the hosts to a below par 194 for 9 in an IPL match here on Saturday.
Chennai Super Kings skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad decided to bowl first and once Abhishek Sharma (59 off 22 balls) blazed his way to another 15-ball half-century, one might have thought that the decision had backfired.
However, the normally profligate left-arm seamer Mukesh Choudhary (2/21 in 2 overs) dismissed Travis Head (23 off 20 balls) and skipper Ishan Kishan (0) off the last two deliveries of the Powerplay.
Suddenly 75 for no loss in 5.4 overs became 75 for 2 at the end of six overs. That was the opening that CSK needed and the post Powerplay overs became an ordeal for the batters from 'Orange Army' save Heinrich Klaasen (59 off 39 balls), who helped himself to another half-century which eventually took the score closer to 200.
Overton (3/37) and Kamboj (3/22) were the wreckers-in-chief during the middle and death overs to keep the home team under a tight leash.
However, SRH could have easily scored 225 to 230 had it not lost four wickets in four and half overs.
Once they became 112 for 4 at the halfway stage, it became a case of stemming the rot before counter-attacking which exactly what Klaasen did.
Sanju Samson's cricketing smarts also helped as he appealed for a review against Abhishek off a Jamie Overton short ball and it was one of the game changing moments.
For CSK, the combination of Overton's hard lengths and Noor Ahmed's (0/33 in 4 overs) deception through the air didn't allow Klaasen or other batters to chance their arms. The Indian batters like Nitish Reddy (12) or uncapped ones like Aniket Verma and Salil Arora couldn't force the pace, leaving Klaasen with all the heavylifting.
No words of praise would be enough for Kamboj (3/22 in 3 overs), who has now become an exponent of fast wide yorkers coming from round the wicket -- one such delivery that got Klaasen played on.
Gurjapneet Singh (1/34 in 4 overs), the lanky left-arm hit-the-deck bowler, also bowled 12 dot balls to make matters worse for the hosts. In the last five overs, SRH managed only 40 runs.