11 Apr ’15 : CSK vs SRH 4th Match : McCullum-powered CSK dwarf Sunrisers Hyderabad
Chennai : New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum continued his rich World Cup form, smashing his second Indian Premier League (IPL) century (56-ball 100 not out), to ensure Chennai Super Kings (CSK)’s second successive league match victory – beating Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by 45 runs – in the tournament at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Saturday.
The destructive batsman’s latest belligerent knock powered the two-time IPL champions to a comfortable win. McCullum earlier scored IPL’s first century (158 not out) against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the first edition of the T20 tournament.
After their batsmen set the Sunrisers a huge target of 210 runs, CSK bowlers complemented their batters to contain SRH’s reply, restricting them to 164/6.
SRH got off to a brisk start but after India opener Shikhar Dhawan’s dismissal (28) they didn’t seem like coming close to chasing down the stiff target despite the valiant effort of Australian opener David Warner (53).
Earlier, CSK skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat and his decision was fully backed by McCullum who batted throughout the innings, bludgeoning seven fours and nine massive over boundaries.
The right-hand dasher guided New Zealand to the World Cup finals only losing to champions Australia and he was at it again blasting the hapless SRH bowlers to all corners of the ground.
He put on a 75-run opening wicket stand with West Indian Dwayne Smith (27) and followed it up with a 60-run second-wicket partnership with newly married Suresh Raina (14).
That set up a strong platform for CSK to post a strong total and the McCullum-Dhoni third-wicket stand capitalised on it superbly, putting on a 63-run partnership.
Dhoni took over the mantle of big-hitting from McCullum from there and contributed 53 runs of the third-wicket stand, hitting four boundaries and as many sixes.
Brief Scores: Chennai Super Kings 209/4 (B McCullum 100 not out, MS Dhoni 53; T Boult 1/34), Sunrisers Hyderabad 164/6 (D Warner 53, S Dhawan 26; D Barvo 2/25, M Sharma 2/36)
Toss: Chennai Super Kings have won the toss and they opted to bat
DA Warner: It is going fantastic. Can’t complain (on how life’s treating him after getting married last week). I’m ready to lead from the front. We have got a great bunch of lads and we are ready to go. It is quite handy to throw the ball to any one of our bowlers. The voice of cricket. It is very sad to hear the passing of Richie. Condolences to his family. Fielding is a big part in this game and catches need to be taken.
MS Dhoni: I think we did bowl well in that game. There was a bit of help. I felt Ashwin bowled really well. He used his variations in pace to a good extent. There are still some areas of concern, hopefully it will be sorted. The one extra fielder inside in T20s has a big impact on the game. That’s one of the reason bowlers look a bit comfortable in this format. When there is grass on the wicket, it turns a bit. The way Ashwin used his pace, he got more turn than the others.
Team Players :
Chennai Super Kings : DR Smith, BB McCullum, Faf du Plessis, SK Raina, DJ Bravo, MS Dhoni, RA Jadeja, R Ashwin, I Pandey, MM Sharma, A Nehra
Sunrisers Hyderabad Team: DA Warner, S Dhawan, Lokesh Rahul, NV Ojha, KS Williamson, RS Bopara, Parvez Rasool, Karn Sharma, B Kumar, I Sharma, TA Boult
Match Details:
Toss: Chennai Super Kings, who chose to bat first
Umpires: RK Illingworth and VA Kulkarni
TV umpire: RM Deshpande
Match referee: M Nayyar
Reserve Umpire: K Bharatan