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
Abhishek’s charge
CSK picked Matt Short over Akeal Hosein primarily so they could target Abhishek and Travis Head with offspin. For two overs it worked. They gambled on a third, and it backfired. Abhishek moved from 26 off 10 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.
The Overton factor
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’s responded beautifully. The ball to dismiss Abhishek, minutes after he’d 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.
Klaasen vs Noor
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 and Gurjapneet boss the death
In pre-season, CSK really dove into turning 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 here 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 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 slotted 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.
The Mhatre injury
Mhatre injured his left leg 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.
Malinga closes it out
Eshan Malinga bounced Gaikwad out. His ability to access the yorker length – or close to it – produced two more wickets. Short (34 off 30) 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. At the presentation, Malinga said he was getting reverse swing as well.
Dube continued to struggle in the finisher’s role as CSK’s chase fizzled out. They were running away with the game in the powerplay. They were favourites even at the halfway mark of the chase. Not being able to pull it off is another example of how their flawed mega-auction strategy is still following them.
Alagappan Muthu is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
