IPL 2021, SRH vs CSK Highlights: MSD finishes with a 6 as CSK win

Rayudu in on the act as he hits a 6. Pressure reliever that. And Bhuvi bowls a wide. Did not need that right now. Dhoni hits a four off the fourth ball. 13 off the over. CSK 132/4 after 19 overs. Need 3 off ther last.

Rashid Khan doesn’t have that great a record against Chennai Super Kings and he was under pressure when he came on to bowl the sixth over of the chase. Ruturaj Gaikwad went for a sweep first ball and got a top edged boundary. Next ball, he thundered down the track to heave a six. Rashid went for his favourite googly from back of length next ball, beat Gaikwad’s sweep and trapped him lbw as the ball struck the stomach region in front of the stumps. A victorious grin spread across Khan’s visage but had to wipe it off as Gaikwad got DRS to review the decision. In his next over, he would have another chance when Gaikwad hammered a tossed up delivery back at him. More hurt was in store though, metaphorically and literally as the ball rammed into his knees and squirted away. He would have to wait until the 15th over to have some luck. Moeen Ali had failed to connect with a pull and the ball rolled off his thighs on to the stumps. Some joy, at last for the man who has gone on record that he dreams to play under the captaincy of CSK captain Dhoni.

Kaul comes in the attack. This is going deep. Rayudu hits a 4 off the fifth ball. And the over ends at 6 runs. Good over. CSK 119/4 after 18 overs.

Bhuvi in to ball. Great over. Just 4 off it.  CSK 113/4 after 17 overs.

And Holder gets another. CSK lose 2 quick ones. du Plessis departs. Kaul takes it. CSK 108/4 

Holder in the attack. Raina is gone. LBW. Holder strikes. Very very full. CSK 107/3 after 15.3 overs.

After 3 dots, Moeen is gone. Rashid strikes. CSK 103/2 after 14.4 overs.

Faf du Plessis is not the most expressive of batters around. Six, four, bowled, he usually ingests with equanimity, or at best a quick chuckle. But after gliding down the track, as if the deck were a disco floor, lofting Bhuvneshwar Kumar straight over his head, he stood in self-awe in his follow-through, salivating the ball’s furious flight, it’s brisk belly-dive into the pitch near the ropes, burning the dew to hit the advertisement hoarding and rebound back to the perimeter rope. Faf was in a murderous mood and had picked a couple of sixes. But it’s this stroke (not that it was the most difficult one, but batsmen do get pleasure from hitting a big, tall fast bowler straight over his head) that stoked the inner Narcissus in him. It also brought a wider than usual smile, a genuine sense of satisfaction. And why not?

After 3 dots, Rashid gets hit for a 4 in the 4th ball by Moeen. Just 6 off the over though. CSK 97/1 after 13 overs.

Wicket gone. Rituraj is gone. This is why Holder was brought in. That's the first wicket at the half-way stage. CSK 75/0 after 10.1 overs.

Ruturaj is in destructive mode. Hits a 4 off the first ball. 7 runs off the over though. CSK moving along nicely. CSK 75/0 after 10 overs.

Gaikwad is hitting them. A four off Rashid. 8 off the over. 68/0 after 9 overs.

50 comes up in style for CSK as du Plessis hits a massive six. And the over ends with a four. Expensive over. CSK 58/0 after 7 overs.

Powerplay ends. Rashid concedes 11 off the over. CSK 47/0 after 6 overs.

And Rashid shows his experience! Gaikwad looks to sweep this full ball. The googly turns in from off, goes below the glove, and hits the back leg. Looks plumb but Gaikwad reviews after the umpire raises his finger. However, the ball is touching the glove so umpire Menon has to change his decision. Gaikwad survives!

Runs keep on coming. This time off Rashid's first ball. And a 6 to follow. Stepping down the pitch and just clobbers one. CSK 46/0 after 3.2 ovs.

du Plessis hits a 4 off holder. Class shot. Another one off the 5th ball. It's over the bowler's head. CSK 36/0 after 5 overs.

And another. du Plessis' turn now. Absolutely smashed it. CSK 27/0 after 4 overs.

Bhuvneshwar back in the attack. Gaikwad hits a 6 off the third ball. Huge. Absolutely huge. CSK 20/0 after 3.3 ovs

Gaikwad starts Sandeep's second over with a 4. The next two balls are dots. Considering the start, a pretty decent over. Just 5 off it. Just 3 overs left for Powerplay to end. CSK 12/0 after 3 overs.

Bhuvneshwar in for the second over. Just 2 off it. Brilliant over. Would have just been one off it if not for that wide. CSK 7/0 after 2 overs.

Ruturaj Gaikwad and du Plessis are at the crease. Ruturaj Gaikwad is on strike. Sandeep Sharma will open the attack. 5 runs off the first over. CSK 5/0 after 1 over

A diamond in the midst of kitchen coal. Or Tolstoy squeezed between Chetan Bhagat and Jackie Collins. Dwayne Bravo’s beauty to snip Kane Williamson could thus be defined. The wicket was a beauty— it floated in, swaying the SRH skipper’s eyes to the vast expanse on the leg-side, grassy and empty like the highway that connects his quaint hometown Mount Manganui to Hamilton, the district headquarters. But the ball, after landing, or rather grazing the good-length band of the pitch, gripped the surface, held its line and kissed his front-pad, planted parallel to the stumps. A devil of a ball in the disguise of a close friend, a throwback to the Kiwi dibbly-dobbly era than break-your-jaws Caribbean vintage. But either side of the ball were a couple of wides that defy description. The ball that preluded the wicket ball was so wide that MS Dhoni had to lunge almost full-stretch to collect it. The ball that succeeded didn’t bother Dhoni at all. It veered comfortably into the hands of Suresh Raina at first slip, after almost landing beyond the pitch. Bravo apologised sheepishly, though Dhoni kept throwing him the stink eye. Both would have been Test-match-standard wides, but then Bravo did produce a little gem of a ball to twinkle out the most precious of SRH batsmen. Kick out the kitchen coal and grab the diamond.

Rashid (17*) takes the responsibility on his shoulders in the final two overs, hitting Shardul and Chahar for boundaries in the death. Bhuvneshwar (2*) rotates the strike well, but Rashid fails to provide a perfect finish. SRH: 134/7 (20 overs)

After Abhishek raised the hopes of a turnaround with a six, Hazlewood pours water over the potential party! The pacer removes both Abhishek (18) and Samad (18) in the space of three balls with some fine bowling. SRH: 111/6 (17 overs)

It was Shardul Thakur’s Jon Snow moment. Well, sort of. In the ninth over, Thakur turned from his follow-through to move towards the stumps to gather the throw when he rammed into the batsman Priyam Garg, who was desperately trying to reach the safety of the crease. Thakur fell over, of course, but Garg was left with more pressing matters of survival. He was toppling down but scrambled hard to slip his foot inside the crease to avoid being run out. Fifty years ago, in 1971 Sunil Gavaskar was sent sprawling by a shoulder barge from the England bowler Snow at Lord’s. Snow, then, tossed the bat towards Gavaskar. In his book Sunny Days, Gavaskar called it a “violent shove”, while England legend Denis Compton called it “disgraceful”. Snow apologised to Gavaskar and would clarify later that it was purely an accident but England banned him from the next Test. Years later, he would tell Mid-Day, “I was just trying to pick up the ball to run him out. I apologised to Sunil, but there was a furore in the dressing room because I did not go down to the Indian dressing room to apologise which I told Alec Bedser [chairman of selectors] I would do.”

Samad (14*) ups the ante with a huge six straight down the ground against Hazlewood! Earlier, both him and Abhishek (10*) tonked Shardul fo two well-executed boundaries. Can Hyderabad post a 150 total still? SRH: 97/4 (15 overs)

Things go from bad to worse for Hyderabad! After Bravo scalps his second of the night by dismissing Garg (7) off a caught behind, the run-rate drops even more. Jadeja comes in and he doubles the pain as he removes Saha on 44. Dhoni with his third catch of the evening. Next up is Abdul Samad. Meanwhile, Abhishek Sharma's on 2*. SRH: 74/4 (12.3 overs)

Ever since the skipper's dismissal, it has been rather quiet in the middle. Saha and Garg are trying their best to hold fort, not going for any risky shots against Jadeja and Shardul. No boundaries in last three overs. SRH: 57/2 (9 overs)

That's plumb! Bravo comes into the attack and instantly removes Williamson (11) via a LBW! SRH: 43/2 (6.3 overs)

Taking it a bit nice and easy, both Saha (24*) and Williamson (11*) are being calculative with their shot selection. Still, the skipper manages to punish Chahar by scooping one to the fine leg fence for a boundary. SRH: 41/1 (6 overs)

An early breakthrough! Hazlewood strikes for CSK as he dismisses Roy (2)! The batter waltzes down the pitch but a wild swing of the bat lands him in trouble. He gets an under edge which is safely taken by Dhoni. SRH: 23/1 (3.3 overs)

After a somewhat sedate start, Saha (17*) comes to life against Chahar. He swings one over deep mid-wicket for a maximum and he repeats it again over long-off. Two in three deliveries! Roy's still on 2*. SRH: 19/0 (3 overs)

Jason Roy and Wriddhiman Saha walk out to open for SRH. Deepak Chahar has the new ball. The pacer starts well as he concedes just four runs in the first over of the innings. All binary from the openers so far. SRH: 4/0 (1 over)

Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Jason Roy, Wriddhiman Saha(w), Kane Williamson(c), Priyam Garg, Abhishek Sharma, Abdul Samad, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul, Sandeep Sharma

Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Ruturaj Gaikwad, Faf du Plessis, Moeen Ali, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Josh Hazlewood

CSK win the toss and opt to bowl first. "We'll bowl first because of the smaller dimensions and looks like a fresh wicket. When you keep playing here, it tends to slow down. It may not be as slow as the other wickets today," said MS Dhoni.

"The roller has been doing plenty of heavy-lifting on this flat surface. The wicket has gone back to more of a traditional Sharjah surface. It's actually got the kind of sheen to it which means that it's really good to bat on. Tough for the bowlers tonight. Powerplay for both teams is going to be absolutely key, so watch out for the big guns up top of both these batting line-ups. Otherwise, I think it's going to be a real battle of attrition. It's going to be a bit bigger scoring match tonight."

CSK need just one more win to seal the play-off berth and MS Dhoni will pick the team with an eye for the knockouts.

CSK Probable Playing XI: Faf du Plessis, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Moeen Ali, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran/Dwayne Bravo, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Josh Hazlewood

SRH Probable Playing XI: Jason Roy, Wriddhiman Saha, Kane Williamson, Priyam Garg, Abhishek Sharma, Abdul Samad, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddharth Kaul, Sandeep Sharma

Hello and welcome to the live commentary of the IPL contest between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings. The MS Dhoni-led side is eyeing qualification for the play-offs with a victory tonight. Stay tuned for more updates!