IPL 2022: Abhishek, Tripathi finish job for Hyderabad against CSK

Chennai Super Kings dawdled with the bat to 154 and their bowling lacked smarts on a slow pitch and unsurprisingly slipped to their fourth successive loss. Powered their youngsters Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, and T Natarajan, Sunrisers Hyderabad won their first game of the season.
Plucky Abhishek
To understand how good a knock this was from Abhishek Sharma, let’s zoom into the 15th over from the left-arm seamer Mukesh Choudhary, who had taken out Kane Williamson with a slower one. It was a back of length delivery, perfect for it to potentially hold on the sluggish pitch, slow up, and mess the timing of the batsman. Instead, Abhishek waited that fraction, stood upright, and somehow punched the ball up and over the bowler’s head to the straight boundary for an outstanding six. The camera zoomed to MS Dhoni, who was wearing a three-day grey stubble and some helplessness too.

.@SunRisers win 8 wickets to reger their first win in #TATAIPL 2022.#CSKvSRH pic.twitter.com/aupL3iKv5v
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 9, 2022
When Tom Moody was interviewed mid-way through the first innings, the commentator Murali Kartik asked him why they were opening with Abhishek Sharma. Wouldn’t Rahul Tripathi be a better option? Moody explained that they wanted a left-right combination and Abhishek is a talented youngster who just needs some chances. “Abhishek is more comfortable at top of the order and we have been shuffling him across up and down the order in the previous years. All he needs is a consent run”.

A fine half-century from Abhishek Sharma, his first in #TATAIPL 2022. @SunRisers move to 89/0 in 12 overs.
Follow the match ➡️ https://t.co/KO3aMk5zCS#TATAIPL | #CSKvSRH pic.twitter.com/8ultLogYeC
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 9, 2022
It was a sluggish pitch where the ball wasn’t coming on but he didn’t try to force the pace. He waited and tapped it around and chose the right deliveries to go for his big hits: the full ones from the spinners and the short ones from the pacers. And he ran very well with Kane Williamson, taking quick singles. He allowed Williamson to settle in without worrying too much about runs at the start and of course, the New Zealander started to make up the run-rate.
Natarajan takes out pitch
On a pitch where all the talk was about how to change up the pace and lengths to use the slowness to optimum, T Natarajan had other ideas. He was the only bowler in the game who produced some great swing – a classic in swinger went through the defences of Ruturaj Gaikwad, who was looking good. Then in the middle overs, he kept plugging in yorkers for fun to choke up runs. Later, in the end, he took out Shivam Dube with a short ball. Only Ravindra Jadeja managed a six and a four in 19th over off him, but then Natarajan had done his job. Wicket taker at the start, the run-stopper in the middle, and momentum-changer in the end. “We were 20-25 runs short in the end,” Ravindra Jadeja would say later. That’s certainly true but their bowling too needs improvement.

Bamboozled! T Natarajan’s dream delivery to dismiss Ruturaj Gaikwad. He did what he is known for.#CSKvSRH #CSKvsSRH #SRHvsCSK #IPL2022 pic.twitter.com/YIPUQFAL6b
— Mohit Pandey (@mohitherapy) April 9, 2022
Tripathi sparkles
Rahul Tripathi was another momentum-changer for Hyderabad; no one timed the ball as well as him. He came in with the equation reading 66 from 47 balls and one wondered how he would cope on this pitch. Would he manage to read the pace well? He certainly did, more than anyone else, getting great timing on his shots. Chennai didn’t bowl particularly well, not using the cutters as often as it was needed, and Tripathi, one of the natural timers of the ball, just kept creaming them with shots around the park. He cut, pulled, drove, lofted and that says as much about his talent as it does about the lless Chennai bowlers.

Brief Scores: Chennai Super Kings: 154 for 7 in 20 overs (Moeen Ali 48, Ambati Rayudu 27, Washington Sundar 2/21, T Natarajan 2/30). lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad: 155 for 2 in 17.4 overs (Abhishek Sharma 75, Rahul Tripathi 39 not out; Mukesh Choudhary 1/30).