This Day that year: Chennai Super Kings became IPL champion
After a two-year suspension due to match-fixing, Chennai
Super Kings defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 8 wickets played at Wankhede
Stadium, Mumbai on 27th May 2018.
Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni won the toss and
decided to field first. It did not start well for SRH as Sreevats Goswami was
run-out while taking 2nd run. Kane Williamson and Shikhar Dhawan looked
positive with their stroke play. At the end of six overs, SRH was 42 for 1.
After the power play overs, Williamson and Dhawan put the
pressure back on CSK bowlers. Ravindra Jadeja provided the breakthrough
dismissing Dhawan for 26. Dhawan and Williamson added 51 runs for the 2nd
wicket. Shakib AL Hasan came to the crease and showed intent right from word
go. When things looked for SRH, Karn Sharma got the big wicket of Williamson
for 47. SRH batsmen struggled to score runs with good tight bowling by CSK
bowlers. Carlos Braithwaite joined in and hit some lusty blows with a quickfire
21 off 11 balls. Pathan and Braithwaite added 34 runs for the 6th
wicket.
Chasing 179 runs to win, Shane Watson could not score any
runs for 10 balls. Faf du Plessis also struggled for timing as he made 10 off 11
balls. Suresh Raina came to the crease and looked aggressive with his intent.
At the end of six overs, CSK were 35 for 1.
Watson took on the SRH bowlers and smashed them to all parts
of the ground. He reached his fifty off 33 balls. Raina made an impressive 32
off 24 balls. Watson and Raina added 117 runs for the 2nd wicket.
There was no looking back for Watson as he completed
dominated the SRH bowlers and completed his century off 51 balls. It was an
amazing knock by the hard-hitting all-rounder from Australia who remained not
out on 117 off 57 balls with 11 fours and 8 sixes. He and Rayudu added unbeaten
48 runs for the 3rd wicket which helped CSK win the 2018 IPL title by
8 wickets with 9 balls to spare.
The journey of CSK in 2018
Chennai Super Kings had an outstanding comeback in the IPL
after a two-year suspension. They finished on 18 points but due to the negative
run rate, CSK finished 2nd.
In the qualifier 1, CSK defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 2
wickets in a thrilling encounter played at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on 22nd
May.
Ambati Rayudu was the leading run-getter for CSK in 2018
edition. He scored 602 runs from 16 matches (16 innings) with 1 century and 3
half-centuries. Shane Watson contributed brilliantly for CSK with 555 runs from
15 matches ( 15 innings) with 2 centuries and 2 half-centuries. Both Rayudu and
Watson was in the top 5 run-getters. MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina also had a
superb season with the bat.
CSK bowling was not up to the mark in the 2018 edition as he
was the only bowler to finish in the top 10 leading wicket-takers. Shardul Thakur took 16 wickets from 13 matches
(13 innings) with an economy of 9.23 runs per over.
CSK won the IPL 2018 title after coming back from two-year suspension |
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