Sunrisers Hyderabad’s challenge against Chennai Super Kings at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium was whether its batters could temper their attacking instincts and adapt to the two-paced black-soil surface. On Monday, a composed 37-ball half-century from Ishan Kishan guided SRH through a tricky 181-run chase and into the IPL 2026 playoffs.
Kishan fell for 70 off 47 balls with only six runs left, before Smaran Ravichandran sealed the chase with a boundary and an over to spare.
After a nervy start marked by swings and misses and a few streaky boundaries, Kishan settled into the innings by targeting the large gaps and picking the occasional boundary. He stitched together a crucial 75-run stand with Heinrich Klaasen (47, 26b, 6x4, 2x6) for the third wicket after CSK dismissed Travis Head early and kept Abhishek Sharma (26, 21b, 3x4, 1x6) quiet.
HIGHLIGHTS - CSK vs SRH
If Ruturaj Gaikwad hoped Noor Ahmad and Akeal Hosein would exploit the surface and force mistakes, Klaasen quickly disrupted those plans. The South African used sweeps and reverse sweeps effectively against both spinners, striking six fours and two sixes to keep SRH in control of the chase, while Kishan steadily rotated strike and ensured the asking rate never climbed out of reach.
Earlier, Gaikwad opted to bat, and Sanju Samson (27, 13b, 5x4, 1x6) gave CSK an aggressive start, hammering 17 and 13 runs in the first two overs. Pat Cummins, noticing the slowness of the surface, stationed the deep third fielder squarer to invite Samson to open the face of the bat through the vacant area. The ploy worked as Samson edged a length delivery behind.
Cummins’ slower ones gripped early. Urvil Patel (13, 8b, 2x6) initially countered them well, launching a couple over midwicket and square leg. But the aggressive approach didn’t last long as Sakib Hussain’s off-cutter uprooted his off stump in the fifth over.
Kartik Sharma (32, 19b, 3x4, 2x6), after a couple of quiet overs alongside a subdued Gaikwad, counterattacked Praful Hinge with two fours and a flat six before taking spinner Shivang Kumar straight down the ground for another maximum. Cummins, however, returned to dismiss Kartik with a slower bouncer, and in the next over, trapped Gaikwad with a quicker short ball. The CSK skipper managed just 15 off 21 balls without a boundary.
SRH’s bowlers persisted with into-the-pitch deliveries, but Dewald Brevis (44, 27b, 2x4, 4x6), strong off the back foot, found ways to score. He pulled Hussain and Nitish Kumar Reddy for boundaries to revive the innings in the middle overs, while Shivam Dube (26, 23b, 3x4, 1x6) supported him by lofting Eshan Malinga over long-on.
Brevis picked Malinga’s slower bouncer for six but was cleaned up two balls later by a reverse-swinging length delivery. Dube fell similarly in the next over to Hussain’s off-cutter. Prashant Veer and Akeal Hosein managed only 16 runs off the last nine balls to finish on 180 for seven, a total that wasn’t challenging enough to solidify CSK’s chances to make the top four.
Published on May 19, 2026