IPL 2024: Chennai Super Kings crush Sunrisers Hyderabad by 78 runs

Skipper's 98, Mitchell's 52, Tushar's 4-27 star in victory
CHENNAI: Normal service resumed at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Sunday as Chennai Super Kings returned to winning ways at home. Five days after going down to Lucknow Super Giants in a high-scoring thriller at their 'den', CSK got back on track with a thumping 78-run victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad, courtesy match-winning contributions from skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad and pacer Tushar Deshpande.
While Ruturaj continued his rich vein of form with a terrific 98 (54 balls, 10x4, 3x6) and powered the hosts to a commanding 212-3, Deshpande (4-27) provided CSK a dream start with the ball by removing the dangerous SRH openers for low scores in his first spell.

After being taken to the cleaners while delivering a stump-to-stump line, Deshpande quickly learned his lesson and bowled well outside the off-stump, a move that worked like magic. The dismissals of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma had a lot of similarities - the southpaws tried to clear the point boundary but ended up picking out Daryl Mitchell at sweeper cover.
Deshpande's pace-bowling colleague Matheesha Pathirana later dashed SRH's slim hopes of an improbable win, sending back Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen. The capacity crowd were on their feet when Pathirana delivered his trademark toe-crusher to light up Markram's stumps. SRH went nowhere in their chase and were eventually bundled out for 134.
Earlier, opening batter Ruturaj led from the front as he lived up to his moniker of 'Chepauk's Raja' - a nickname given to him after he took over the reins from MS Dhoni - but fell just two runs short of what would have been a second successive hundred.

Ruturaj, who had smashed an unbeaten ton in the previous match, guided Super Kings to a huge total in the company of Mitchell (52 off 32 balls, 7x4, 1x6) and the in-form Shivam Dube (39 not out off 20 balls, 1x4, 4x6). Combining forces after the early departure of Ajinkya Rahane in the third over, Ruturaj and Mitchell executed CSK's tried-and-tested batting plan to a tee during their 107-run second-wicket alliance.
The right-handed duo kept the scoreboard moving, but without taking too many risks. Despite hitting only two sixes in the first 13 overs, CSK scored at nearly 10 runs per over in that period, thanks to the batters' ability to pick the gaps with ease.
Ruturaj completed his 50-run milestone in grand fashion; he pulled Pat Cummins for a maximum between the square-leg and mid-wicket regions.
At the other end, Mitchell fell prey to a full toss from Jaydev Unadkat, just after raising his maiden IPL half-century.