Following his aspect’s six-wicket loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) of their Indian Premier League (IPL) match, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) head coach Stephen Fleming mentioned that his crew missed the presence of key pacers like Matheesha Pathirana and Mustafizur Rahman. Chennai Super Kings suffered their second consecutive defeat within the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, after Abhishek Sharma’s blitz and a medical bowling spell guided Sunrisers Hyderabad to a six-wicket victory on Friday on the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.

While Pathirana missed out on the match because of a niggle, Mustafizur is in Bangladesh to get his visa for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup in West Indies/USA ranging from June 1 onwards.

Mukesh Chaudhary was given an opportunity to play his first recreation since 2022. The pacer was a standout bowler in 2022, taking 16 wickets in 13 matches, together with a four-wicket haul. But his return was forgettable as he was smashed for 27 runs in a single over by Abhishek Sharma and was faraway from the assault.

Following the match within the post-match press convention, Fleming mentioned, “Without a doubt (If missing Pathirana and Mustafizur affected the outcome), it is part of the IPL. Having injuries and losing players in an IPL is part of the process.”

“We had a chance to introduce Mukesh Chaudhary today. He was good for us a while back. It was not his day. But that is part of the IPL, managing players, and when you do find yourself a little bit short on firepower, it is finding the new hero,” mentioned Fleming.

The coach mentioned that his crew missed out on some essential runs, failing to make one of the best use of the powerplay whereas batting.

“And, it did not happen today, but we put trust in the players that we introduced and they have been training well and doing the job. Tough baptism. The first five or six overs were the best to bat, and the aggressive way in which they played showed that. So, being able to get a wicket first over and maybe shut down the second, it could have been a competitive score, but maybe 15 short and, not quite accurate enough for first six overs with the ball,” mentioned Fleming.

Coming to the match, SRH gained the toss and opted to bowl first. Rachin Ravindra (12) and skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad (26 in 21 balls, with three fours and a six) bought out early, decreasing CSK to 54/2 in 7.1 overs.

Then knocks from Shivam Dube (45 in 24 balls, with two fours and 4 boundaries), Ravindra Jadeja (31 in 23 balls, with fours boundaries) and Ajinkya Rahane (35 in 30 balls, with two fours and 6) took CSK to 165/5 of their 20 overs.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/28), T Natarajan (1/39), skipper Cummins (1/29) and Jaydev Unadkat (1/29) have been among the many wickets for SRH.

In the run-chase, Travis Head (31 in 24 balls, with three fours and a six) and Abhishek Sharma (37 in 12 balls, with three fours and 4 sixes) began off rather well, taking SRH to 106 in 9.4 overs. Aiden Markram scored an excellent half-century (50 in 36 balls, with 4 boundaries and a six). Heinrich Klaasen (10*) and Nitish Reddy (11*) took SRH to a six-wicket win.

Moeen Ali (2/23) was the choose of the bowlers for CSK. Deepak Chahar and Maheesh Theekshana bought a wicket too.

Abhishek’s explosive knock earned him the ‘Player of the Match’ award.

SRH has climbed to the fifth spot with two wins and two losses in 4 video games, giving them 4 factors. With the identical win-loss ratio, CSK is on the third spot with 4 factors because of a greater run-rate.

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