Sunrisers Hyderabad players celebrate after Abdul Samad takes the wicket of CSK batsman Kedar Jadhav in Dubai on Friday.
This Indian Premier League 2020 season has been all about youngsters so far and Friday's Chennai Super Kings vs Sunrisers Hyderabad match turned out to be the case as 19-year-old Priyam Garg's fighting 50 turned out to be the difference in SRH's 7-run win in Dubai.
The teenager played a 26-ball 50 run fighting knock in the first innings to take SRH to 164/5 in first innings. In reply, MS Dhoni (47* off 36) took his side close to the target but could manage 157/5 at the end of the match.
In a match that saw last-minute dramas aplenty as three players suffered injury issues in the middle of the field including CSK skipper, who complained of a dry throat and breathing difficulties found it difficult to get going in the hot conditions with umpires forced to call a check-up by his team doctor during the penultimate over.
Problems found SRH as well with Bhuvneswar Kumar had to walk off the field after bowling just one ball in the penultimate over of the match, leaving skipper David Warner with just Khaleel Ahmed and inexperienced spinner Abdul Samad for the final 11 deliveries while 44 runs still needed.
Warner had to turn to Khaleel, who himself suffered a nagging injury earlier, to bowl the remaining of Bhuvi's over while Samad was asked to defend 28 runs at the end. The young spinner succeeded in defending the total while not allowing Sam Curran (15* off 5) and Dhoni to score more than 20.
Earlier in the first innings, SRH showed the depth in their batting as the side reached 164/5 at the end of 20 overs despite staring at collapse at 69/4 at one stage.
The entire credit goes to team’s two youngsters Priyam Garg (51* off 26) and Abhishek Sharma (31 off 24), who stitched a 42-ball 77-run stand for the fifth wicket to take the side to the respectable total.
Rahul Chahar (31/2) was pick among the CSK bowlers as he choked runs in the powerplay, while removing Jonny Bairstow for a duck, and was also the one to break the Garg-Sharma partnership.
Interestingly, Chahar could have more wickets to his name if not for some shoddy fielding by Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur in the deep; both dropping catches off Chahar’s back-to-back deliveries in the 18th over.
Following Chahar’s strong opening spell, Pandey (29 off 21) couldn’t build on his innings after a rash shot off Shardul Thakur saw him find Sam Curran over mid-off with the scoreboard reading 47/2 in the eighth over.
David Warner (28 off 29), who found it tough to get going on the surface, departed 20 runs later after his attempt to clear the long-on off Piyush Chawla saw Faf du Plessis spewing his magic with another athletic display on the line.
This was quickly followed by an error by Kane Williamson, who was run out in an attempt to take a single with Ambati Rayudu in close-quarter; leaving SRH reeling at 69/4.
Chasing 165, Ravindra Jadeja (50 off 35) and MS Dhoni () took CSK close to the target despite top-order coming a cropper. The duo put on a 72-run stand for the fifth wicket in the chase while upping the ante in the death overs. However, being down to 42/4 in the ninth over meant the target was too steep for them to chase down.
