Former champions Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) horror start to the season extended to their fourth game of the continuing Indian Premier League (IPL). They succumbed to a seven-wicket defeat to fellow former champions Sunrisers Hyderabad in Match 14 at the Dubai International Stadium on Friday. The win took SRH to the fourth spot, while CSK stayed at the bottom.
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Match report: Winning the toss, SRH skipper, David Warner, elected to bat first. Although they were off to a shaky start, the incoming batsmen played steady, while it was the 77-run stand between Priyam Garg (51*) and Abhishek Sharma (31), for the fifth wicket, that propelled SRH to a par total of 1645.
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In reply, CSK, too, were off to a jittery start, losing their opening three wickets within the powerplay. Although the pair of MS Dhoni (47*) and Ravindra Jadeja (50) fought their way to get close to the target, the former's struggle with his fitness allowed SRH to bounce back. SRH's T Natarajan claimed 243, as a number of records were scripted during the match.
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Dhoni becomes the most capped player: In what is a historic achievement for Dhoni, today was his 194th game in the IPL. As a result, he has now become the most capped player in the tournament, going past Suresh Raina's 193. Raina's unavailability in this edition has allowed Dhoni to attain this memorable feat.
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Warner scripts an unwanted one: Warner could only manage a score of 28 tonight. As a result, it is the second time in his IPL career that he has failed to score a single half-century in four consecutive innings. His first instance was back in 2016.
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Abhishek-Garg script unique feats: Abhishek and Garg's innings played a central role in leading SRH to a total of 164. In an interesting observation, the pair scored a 50-plus stand, being the lowest age combination, of 39 years and 335 days. They went past the previous best of Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant for Delhi Daredevils (DD) (40 years and 39 days), who had scored an unbeaten 72 against SRH. Also, the pair became the fourth to score a 30-plus stand being at the age of 20 or less. It was also the highest stand by two players of the same age group in the tournament, to date.
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Garg fourth SRH batsman to score half-century at number five or lower: Garg made another record with his half-century, as he became the fourth batsman from the side in the IPL to score the same batting at number five or lower. The other three happen to be Manish Pandey (5th), Biplab Samantray (5th) and Darren Sammy (7th).
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Garg matches Yuvraj Singh's feat: In what would be a proud moment for Garg, he became only the second Indian for the side to score a half-century in less than 25 balls (23 balls), in the tournament. He equalled Yuvraj's feat, who happened to do so in the same number of deliveries, against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in 2017.
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CSK script an unwanted too: CSK's grey patch continued as they scripted an unwanted one with the bat. With a score of just 444 in the opening 10 overs, they have become the lowest-scoring team during this phase this season. They went past their own lowest of 473, against Delhi Capitals (DC) in their last game.
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Jadeja scores best IPL and T20 score: Although Jadeja's 35-ball 50 was not enough for CSK to notch up a win, it certainly gave him some confidence, for the tournament ahead. It happened to be his best knock in the IPL to date, going past his previous best of 48, against Deccan Chargers in 2012. It also happens to be his best score in the format so far.
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Dhoni unbeaten in sixth IPL run-chase: Dhoni scripted yet another unwanted feat, as he played a nervy innings of an unbeaten 47. However, it was not enough to see CSK through, as it was his sixth instance in the tournament to have finished in a losing cause, despite staying unbeaten while chasing.
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