Former India opener Virender Sehwag slammed Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) batting approach in their ultimately unsuccessful run-chase against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Dubai this Friday (October 2).
Chasing the target of 165 in Match 14 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020, CSK could only manage to reach as close as 157/5, losing the match by 7 runs, their third straight defeat in four outings, including a solitary win.
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After losing early wickets, the three-time champions found themselves 42/4 in the ninth over. And even though Ravindra Jadeja (50) and skipper MS Dhoni (47*) allowed their team to recover through the innings with a 74-run fifth-wicket stand, Sehwag felt they did so while conceding too many deliveries in the middle-overs.
In typical fashion, Sehwag criticised CSK for taking too much time with the bat on the 5th episode of his web show 'Viru Ki Baithak'.
"Yesterday's match was a face-off between brains and brawn. It was 'The Rock' Warner vs 'Big Brain Gabbar' Dhoni. They say, both brains and brawn are required to win any battle but yesterday, Hyderabad's warriors using only brawn demolished Chennai's strategies," he said.
"Chennai's senior team must have thought that Hyderabad's top 4 scorers were gone, when these 2 youngsters (Priyam Garg and Abhishek Sharma) came to bat, 'What could these kids possibly do?'. But these kids were amazing, they cut Chennai down to size."
"Chennai, who are known for their cool attitude, turned out to be fools in their own plan. Did Hyderabad win the match or did the Chennai Test Kings think they were at net practice?" Sehwag added with a question.
CSK's task with the bat would've been a lot easier on the day had they taken their chances when SRH's young Indian middle-order batsmen Priyam Garg (51*) and Abhishek Sharma (31) were putting their team back in the game.
Garg's sensible half-century and Abhishek's useful knock took SRH to a score of 164/5 despite once being 69/4 with all their best players back in the pavilion.
CSK batsmen Shane Watson (1), Kedar Jadhav (3) failed once again while even their in-form batters Faf du Plessis (22), Ambati Rayudu (8) couldn't stand-up on the night, leaving perhaps too much ground to cover for Dhoni, Jadeja and the rest.
