SRH vs CSK: Sunrisers Hyderabad recorded an easy six-wicket win against Chennai Super Kings in the 18th match of the Indian Premier League 2024 on Friday. Impressive bowling from Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Pat Cummins restricted Chennai to 165 and then quickfire knocks from Abhishek Sharma and Aiden Markram helped Hyderabad to chase the target with 11 balls remaining.

A win helped SRH register their second win of the season and enter the top four in the points table. Chennai Super Kings registered their second consecutive defeat after an impressive start to the IPL 2024 season.

Coming from big defeats in their previous games, both SRH and CSK made multiple changes to their playing eleven at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. Chennai’s Moeen Ali, Mukesh Chaudhary and SRH’s Nitish Kumar Reddy received their first call-up in the 2024 season.

Once again, Chennai openers Rachin Ravindra and Ruturaj Gaikwad struggled for a strong start. The experienced Indian bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar ended his wicketless by removing Rachinin in the fourth over. Ruturaj started well by scoring 26 runs but failed to convert it into a big knock. 

Shivam Dube top-scored with 45 off just 24 balls and Rahane contributed with 35 runs before losing wickets in first 15 overs. Ravindra Jadeja scored 31* off 23 balls but impressive spells from Bhuvnehswar and Natarajan restricted Chennai to 165/5 in 20 overs.

Abhishek Sharma gave SRH a sensational start once again by smashing 26 runs off returning Mukesh Choudhary in the second over. Abhishek smashed 37 runs off just 12 balls with the help of three fours and four sixes to give Hyderabad early control of the game.

Deepak Chahar dismissed Abhishek in the third over but SRH managed to scorch 78 runs in powerplay. Travis Head, coming in an impact player and the former skipper Aiden Makram added match-defining 60 runs for the second wicket.

Head departed after scoring 31 runs but Markram registered his first fifty of the season by top-scoring with 50 off 36 balls. Moeen Ali tried to get Chennai back in the game with timely wickets of Markram and promoted Shahbaz Ahmed but in-form Heinrich Klaasen and Nitish Kumar Reddy avoided any late drama and finished the game with 11 balls remaining.

SRH playing XI: Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande, T Natarajan (substituted by Travis Head).

CSK playing XI: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Rachin Ravindra, Ajinkya Rahane, Moeen Ali, Daryl Mitchell, Shivam Dube (substituted by Mukesh Chaudhary), Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (wk), Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana.