Ruturaj Gaikwad (57-ball 99, 6×4, 6×6) enjoyed a home run while Devon Conway (55-ball 85, 8×4, 4×6) carried his honeymoon phase onto the cricket field as both Chennai Super Kings openers made merry against a lacklustre Sunrisers Hyderabad attack in an IPL-15 match at the MCA Stadium here on Sunday night.
The duo’s 182-run opening wicket stand, the highest for any wicket for the Chennai Super Kings in IPL history, enabled the MS Dhoni-led outfit post 202-2 after being put in to bat. At the time of going to press, SRH were 89-3 in 10 overs.
Well-timed shot
Pune lad Gaikwad paced his innings well and played proper cricketing shots throughout. The Gaikwad show began with a well-timed hook shot off Marco Jansen that went into the fine-leg stands in the fourth over. Gaikwad shifted the momentum of the innings as soon as Kane Williamson brought on his fastest bowler—Umran Malik—in the eighth over. Gaikwad gave Malik the charge on the very first ball, and then struck him for a four and a six. He smacked Malik for four fours and two sixes, taking 33 runs off the 13 balls he faced in the bowler’s first spell of three overs. At 77 runs off 42 balls, Gaikwad was cruising but then suddenly lost momentum, managing just one four in the next five overs, a period where he faced 16 balls.
Misses ton
This possibly cost him what would have been a well-deserved hundred, as his attempted cut shot on 99 went straight to Bhuvaneshwar Kumar at point. At the other end, Conway, rejoining the CSK squad following a one-week break for his wedding, switched gears. He hammered Jansen for 18 runs, including two sixes and a four in the 15th over. His unbeaten 85 off 55 balls, with the help of eight fours and four sixes, helped CSK get past the 200-run mark.
Brief scores
CSK 202-2 (R Gaikwad 99, D Conway 85*; T Natarajan 2-42) v SRH (scores incomplete)
