MS Dhoni returned to captaincy with a bang. Under ‘Thala’, the Chennai Super Kings scripted a 13-run win over the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the MCA Stadium, Pune on Sunday. 

Chasing 202 runs, SRH were bundled for 189. Mukesh Choudhary, CSK’s best bowler on the day, recorded figures of 4/46 in his four overs. Ravindra Jadeja, who stepped down as the team’s captain ahead of the game, delivered an economic spell giving 15 runs in his three overs. 

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For Hyderabad, Nicholas Pooran top-scored with 64 off 33 balls. Skipper Kane Williamson made 47. SRH are now placed on the fourth rung of the IPL 2022 points table while CSK are ninth. 

The match took Williamson and co’s losing streak to two. While the skipper did admit that the loss came with ‘a lot of positives’, he and coach Tom Moody highlighted potential reasons behind it. 

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Moody, in the post-match presentation, said that the Orange Army had lost two frontline bowlers to injuries in the first innings, leaving them with a vaccume of 7-8 overs. CSK openers Ruturaj Gaikwad took advantage of the opponent’s weak bowling attack to stitch a record 182-run partnership at the top. While the former was dismissed for a heartbreaking 99, the latter slammed 85. 

Kane Williamson and Tom Moody confirmed that the team’s premier spinner Washington Sundar injured his bowling hand again while fielding. Pacer T Natarajan had to leave the field with an injury. 

“It was a bit slower (on the pitch), we did try our best, but losing Washy (Sundar) for the best part of the bowling innings was a struggle for us,” Williamson said after the match.

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Sundar’s availability for the next game against the Delhi Capitals is doubtful. The off-spinning all-rounder had made a comeback in the game against the Gujarat Titans after missing three matches due to split webbing in his bowling. He has re-injured the same area on Sunday. 

He was unable to bowl against the Chennai Super Kings. With the bat, the 22-year-old lasted for only two balls. 

“It’s very unfortunate that he had a knock on the same hand were he split his webbing. It had healed completely but he re-injured that area, it’s not injured to the point that he needs it re-stitched,” Tom Moody said at the post-match presentation.

“But unfortunately, it wasn’t in a state were he could bowl. It really did have an impact on for us in that early phase of bowling, given he has such a critical bowler for us,” he added.

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Natarajan completed his four-overs quota but gave away 42 runs, picking two wickets. In the duo’s absence, skipper Kane Williamson had to use the services of part time spinner Aiden Markram and batting all-rounder Shashank Singh.

Markram (0/36) and Singh (0/10) conceded 46 runs in 4 overs as CSK posted 202/2 on the board.

“When you lose one of your important bowlers, it is a massive blow to the side. We also had Natarajan off the field with an injury that was taking sometime before he could come back on. So, we basically had seven overs that hadn’t been bowled by our frontline bowlers till the 14th-15th over. It made it very difficult for Kane to manage the situation in the middle and we chased a total which was 20-30 runs more than it should have been,” Moody said.

 Sunrisers Hyderabad will take on Delhi Capitals on Thursday.