Video of Dhoni’s winning six against SRH: IPL 2021

Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Chennai Super Kings, September 30 2021, 7:30 PM IST

CSK qualify for the play-offs, and SRH are officially knocked out!

CSK once again proved that 2020 was just an exception. Then again, 2020 doesn’t really count as a year. CSK have qualified for the play-offs 11 times out of 12, now. SRH, No.8, are the first team to be knocked out of IPL 2021. It was No. 1 vs. No. 8, and it will remain that way. The point-rich have gotten richer and the poor, poorer. This is the IPL, and sadly, there is no Robinhood here.

Gaikwad and Faf started off extremely well in the chase, and raced away to 75-0 in ten overs, before a brief collapse ensued, courtesy yet another breathtaking spell from Jason Holder, who once again delivered a one-man show that went in vain.

They lost Moeen to Rashid, but played him out in the end to take on the remainder of the attack. In the end, it was Rayudu and MS Dhoni, who did play out a few dots and perhaps took it a little too close for comfort, before finishing things off with a few lusty blows, including a six that made so many cricket fans nostalgic.

24th time MS Dhoni has remained unbeaten in a successful run chase – joint most in IPL along side Ravindra Jadeja

What the captains said:

Kane Williamson | SRH Skipper : “Not quite enough runs. It wasn’t an easy surface and although we didn’t get enough we showed a fighting spirit in the last quarter with the ball. We need 10-15 extra runs with the bat though and we need to make those small changes. After the powerplay we were 40-something and although you feel like you want more, it was a good start on that surface.

You want to score a few more runs though, but we saw some nice contributions from the lower order. We need to improve. This team is at the top of the table. If you make better decisions with the bat, the final score could have been a little more. CSK played really well. It looked challenging and variable.”

MS Dhoni | CSK Skipper: It means a lot, because the last time, we said we wanted to come back strong. We are known for that and there was a lot at stake. You won’t always win games and a lot didn’t go our way last time, and it’s important not to make excuses and we have done that this year.

The boys did well to keep the momentum going, and they’ve taken responsibilities to keep all departments of the game in balance so the players and the support staff get the credit.

Highest winning % against an opponent in IPL (> 10 matches):
75.86 MI vs KKR
75.00 CSK vs SRH *
67.86 KKR vs PBKS
66.67 CSK vs KKR
66.67 SRH vs PBKS

Josh Hazlewood declared Player of the Match

For his impressive bowling figures of 3/24, Hazlewood was awarded as the player of the match. He said,”I put in a lot of hardwork and learnt a lot every game. It’s hard to learn since there’s a different team every game, but it’s satisfying.

We are happy we are applying whatever we are doing in the practice. It’s good to learn from DJ Bravo over the last few weeks too, and it’s been a great learning curve for me.”

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