Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad faced each other in the 41st match of IPL 2019 at MA Chidambaram Stadium on Tuesday (April 23).

Put into bat first, SRH lost the in-form Jonny Bairstow (0) cheaply. However, David Warner remained unperturbed by his opening partner’s dismissal as he added 115 runs for the second wicket with Manish Pandey, who was promoted to No. 3. Warner scored 57 off 45 balls before becoming Harbhajan Singh’s second victim. Afterwards, Pandey took responsibility and forged a 47-run stand with Vijay Shankar (26). In the process, Pandey notched up his first half-century of this IPL season and finished with an unbeaten 83 off 49 balls as SRH posted 175/3 on the board.

Chasing the target, Faf du Plessis got run out in the third over for just 1. The pair of Shane Watson and Suresh Raina bailed CSK out of trouble with a 77-run for the second wicket. Rashid Khan got rid of Raina on 38 which led to Ambati Rayudu’s arrival at the crease.

The duo of Watson and Rayudu then took the matter into their hands. Watson was the one who dominated the partnership. He brought up his first fifty of IPL 2019 in 35 balls and then wreaked havoc on SRH bowlers. In the 14th, 15th and 16th over, Watson along with Rayudu accumulated 16 runs, 10 runs and 15 runs respectively to put CSK on a commanding position. SRH skipper Bhuvneshwar dismissed Shane Watson in the 18th over but not before the former Australian all-rounder killed the game with his 53-ball 96, including 9 fours and 6 sixes.

With 16 needed off 17 balls, Kedar Jadhav joined Rayudu in the middle and the duo found it difficult to get going. While Bhuvi conceded only 3 runs in the 18th over, Khaleel Ahmed gave away only 4 runs in the penultimate over which left CSK to get 9 runs from the last over. Jadhav smoked Sandeep Sharma for a six in the second delivery of 20th over before the bowler sent Rayudu (21) packing in the 4th ball. Jadhav (11) completed the formality by taking a single in the fifth ball as CSK reached the target with 6 wickets in hand and also became the first team to secure its spot in the play-off.

Cricket experts on Twitter were in awe of Watson, who made the mockery of Sunrisers’ bowling attack and helped CSK to chase down the competitive target.

Check out some of the reactions: