Chennai Super Kings claim ninth victory in 11 matches and fourth in a row to clinch IPL play-off place; Super Kings wobbled late on against Sunrisers in chase of 135 before MS Dhoni clinched win with six in final over; Josh Hazlewood and Dwayne Bravo star with the ball for CSK in Sharjah
Friday 1 October 2021 12:34, UK
MS Dhoni struck the winning six as IPL table toppers Chennai Super Kings clinched a play-off spot with a six-wicket victory over bottom side Sunrisers Hyderabad in Sharjah.
The CSK skipper (14no off 11 balls) thumped Siddarth Kaul over deep midwicket to take his side past Sunrisers' 134-7 with two balls to spare after they had slipped from 103-1 to 108-4 in the chase.
Dhoni was dropped on two by Jason Roy at extra-cover with the England man unable to cling onto a difficult chance as he leapt one-handed to his right - had it stuck, Chennai would have been 114-5 in the 18th over.
Dhoni and Ambati Rayudu (17no off 13) subsequently hit a four and a six apiece to take their side home, after Faf du Plessis (41 off 36 balls) and Ruturaj Gaikwad (45 off 38) had shared their seventh fifty-plus opening stand of the campaign and Moeen Ali chipped in with 17 from the No 3 spot.
CSK's victory - their ninth in 11 fixtures and fourth in a row since the IPL resumed in the UAE earlier this month - moved them onto 18 points and eight clear of fifth-placed Mumbai Indians with just three games left.
Chennai missed out on the top four for the first time in their history last season as they finished in a lowly seventh place but Dhoni's revitalised side are now targeting a fourth title and first since 2018.
The defeat was Sunrisers' ninth in 11 matches and means the 2016 winners will not be involved in the play-offs for the first time in six seasons.
Josh Hazlewood took his best IPL figures of 3-24 for CSK and Dwayne Bravo claimed 2-17 having come in for Sam Curran, who had bagged eye-watering figures of 0-56 against Kolkata Knight Riders last time out.
Hazlewood's wickets included Roy, caught behind by Dhoni for two after charging down the pitch in the fourth over of the match, while Bravo removed Sunrisers skipper Kane Williamson lbw for 11 in the seventh over.
Wriddhiman Saha (44 off 46 balls) top-scored for Sunrisers having been reprieved by a Shardul Thakur no-ball on 29 when he slashed to backward point, while Abishek Sharma (18 off 13), Abdul Samad (18 off 14) and Rashid Khan (17no off 13) made middle-order contributions.
Saha's opening partner Roy failed to make a significant impact, unlike in the win over Rajasthan Royals on Monday when he scored 60 from 42 deliveries after replacing the out-of-form David Warner in the Sunrisers side.
Both of CSK's openers fired, though, with Du Plessis and Gaikwad - the latter having overturned an lbw dismissal off Rashid on 30 - putting on 75 in 10 overs before Gaikwad was caught off Jason Holder (3-27) at mid-off.
Holder went on to dismiss Suresh Raina (2) and Du Plessis, while Moeen dragged Rashid onto his stumps amid a mini-collapse of 3-5 in eight balls.
Dhoni and Rayudu rallied, taking Bhuvneshwar Kumar's 19th over for 13 to reduce the requirement to three runs from the last.
A single and two dot balls brought Sunrisers back into the contest but Dhoni then ended it with a towering six off Kaul over the leg-side.
The battle for play-off berths continues on Friday as fourth-placed Kolkata (10 points) face sixth-placed Punjab Kings (eight points) in Dubai. Watch live on Sky Sports Cricket (channel 404) from 2.50pm.
