Bowlers call the shots at Wankhede Stadium

Dwayne Bravo’s comments were ominous as Sunrisers bowlers, Siddharth Kaul and Rashid Khan, called the shots and all but defended a modest total of 139. However, CSK had a hero in Du Plessis on Tuesday to take it over the line.

Bravo’s contribution to Chennai Super Kings this season has been commendable. Initially, he made his bat do the talking in crunch situations but on Tuesday he made telling contribution with the ball against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

“Good to contribute with the ball especially in a game like this - a very important game against a very good team. Deepak set the tone early - couldn't have asked for a better start (first wicket off the first ball),” Bravo, who took two for 25 from his four overs, said during the break.

Bravo’s first wicket was the dangerous Bangladeshi all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, who was caught down the leg by MS Dhoni. Shakib could not avoid the ball as it kept going close to his body and took the edge as the batsman shaped to play a pull shot. Probably, that would have been a wide had he moved inside because Dhoni seemed to take it way down the leg-side diving.

At 50 for four, Sunrisers was in trouble. But it was his second wicket that had the crowd at its feet. Bravo bowled full length and Yusuf Pathan went for a drive and could only offer a low catch back to the bowler. Bravo took the low catch diving and there was a characteristic celebration that followed with the ‘Run the World dance.

“Yusuf is a big hitter and that wicket was important,” he said.

For his pace, Bravo got the right kind of support from captain Dhoni. Two games earlier, he went for 26 runs in the last over of the innings in a losing cause against Delhi Daredevils as Harshal Patel and Vijay Shankar went after him. “I was happy to bowl when the ball was hard,” he said of Dhoni’s decision to bring him on inside the first 10 overs.

However, Siddharth Kaul’s two wickets in an over and Rashid Khan’s dismissal of MS Dhoni with a googly turned the match into a bowlers’ party.