South African batsman Faf du Plessis scored an unbeaten 67 from 42 balls to help Chennai Super Kings prevail over Sunrisers Hyderabad in a low-scoring IPL 2018 Qualifier 1 match by two wickets at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Tuesday.
Check out IPL 2018 Schedule and Scorecards | CSK vs SRH Qualifier 1 Scorecard
Chennai Super Kings as a result have secured a place in the Vivo IPL 2018 Final. Its not over yet for the Sunrisers Hyderabad as they still have a chance of taking on CSK in the IPL 2018 Final should they win the Qualifier 2 match which will be against the winner of the Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals Eliminator match on Wednesday.
The pitch at the Wankhede Stadium had a tired look and Sunrisers Hyderabad, who were asked to bat first after losing the toss, struggled to reach 139 for 7 in the allotted 20 overs. SRH was struggling at 88 for 6 in 15 overs and were fortunate to get to the total thanks to an unbeaten 43 from 29 balls from West Indian Carlos Brathwaithe who hit four sixes.
Skipper Kane Williamson looked good for his 24 from 15 balls before he was caught by MS Dhoni off Shardul Thakur in the fifth over reducing SRH to 36 for 3. SRH had a terrible start losing Shikhar Dhawan to Deepak Chahar in the very first ball of the IPL 2018 Qualifier match.
For Chennai Super Kings, Ravindra Jadeja conceded only 13 in his four overs while taking the wicket of Manish Pandey while Dwayne Bravo was the most successful bowler with 2 for 25 in four overs.
In their run chase, CSK were in soup at 92 for 7 in 15 overs. SRH did everything they could to fancy their chances of winning the low-scoring contest except for dismissing Faf du Plessis. It was a one-man show from the South African who struck five fours and four sixes to clinch victory for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL 2018 Qualifier match with five balls to spare.
Like SRH, CSK also lost a wicket in the very first over of their innings with Shane Watson falling for a duck to Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Suresh Raina scored 22 from 13 balls before he was dismissed by Siddarth Kaul in the fourth over. The in-form Ambati Rayudu was cleaned up by Siddarth Kaul in the very next ball but the medium pacer could not complete a hat-trick.
Afghanistan leg spinner Rashid Khan played his part taking the wickets of MS Dhoni for 9 and Dwayne Bravo for 7 to cripple the CSK run chase. Rashid Khan returned with figures of 4-0-11-2 but couldn’t stop CSK and Faf du Plessis from crossing the victory line.
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