Chennai Super Kings hosted Sunrisers Hyderabad on a black-soil surface at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Monday.
On the eve of the crucial fixture, especially for the home side, Spencer Johnson felt the bounce and early swing on offer would give CSK an advantage. Even SRH bowling coach Varun Aaron believed anything close to 200 would be a par score.
However, the surface surprised both teams. On matchday, the sides read the pitch differently. CSK went in with three spin options in Akeal Hosein, Noor Ahmad, and Prashant Veer, while SRH only had Shivang Kumar at its disposal. When Ruturaj Gaikwad opted to bat, Pat Cummins, who wanted to bowl first, gave a surprised look.
SRH handed Nitish Kumar Reddy the first over, and his opening delivery – although a no-ball – stayed lower than Sanju Samson expected. The ball came slower with almost no swing on offer. It was a “throwback to old Chepauk surface,” SRH assistant coach James Franklin said after the game.
“We expected it not to be filled with a lot of pace, but we didn’t expect it to be as slow as it was,” he added.
SRH’s poor execution in the first two overs, though, cost it 30 runs. Cummins quickly adapted to the conditions and kept deep third and fine-leg squarer than usual. Samson fell to the ploy, opening the face of the bat in an attempt to guide the ball toward the vacant deep third region, only to edge behind.
“When Chennai decided to bat first after the toss, we thought there might be something a little bit up with the pitch. It proved to be the case. It probably wasn’t our best start with the ball, and it wasn’t until Pat came in the third over and got the breakthrough of Sanju,” Franklin said.
Eshan Malinga and Sakib Hussain then relied heavily on off-cutters, with two fielders in the deep, to slow CSK down. Hussain got the reward when Urvil Patel completely misread the variation and lost his stumps attempting a wild slog.
From 43 for one after three overs, CSK crawled to 57 for two at the end of the PowerPlay.
“By then, we’d got a little bit more information from the pitch that taking pace off into the surface was going to be effective for the seamers. That proved to be the case throughout the innings once we executed it better,” Franklin said.
SRH continued to bowl into the surface and closed CSK’s access to the off-side. After Kartik Sharma counterattacked Pragul Hinge’s seam-up deliveries, Cummins returned and dismissed the 20-year-old with a slower bouncer, caught at deep point. The Australian also mixed his pace cleverly against the struggling Gaikwad, forcing him to pull straight to deep midwicket.
Franklin praised Cummins’ adaptability and execution.
“That’s why he stands at the moment as one of the elite bowlers in the world, because he’s got an amazing ability to not only adapt to conditions but adapt to game situations and have an impact.”
Cummins finished with 3/28, bowling 18 deliveries on a hard length or shorter while mixing off-cutters with pace-on deliveries. Malinga extracted reverse swing to deceive Dewald Brevis and ended with 1/26, while Hussain bowled 18 off-cutters in his four overs to return 2/34.
Brevis briefly threatened to derail SRH’s plans, picking the back-of-the-length deliveries early and smashing four sixes to push CSK forward. Yet, Hyderabad stayed disciplined enough to restrict Chennai to 180 – a total Franklin believed still kept the home side ahead at the halfway stage.
“I think at halftime, Chennai would have been pretty happy with that score; they were in front of the game,” he said. CSK head coach Stephen Fleming also felt 180 was competitive on the sluggish surface.
Unlike Hyderabad, however, Chennai’s bowlers relied on conventional seam bowling, searching for swing and hitting lengths rather than using variations. The approach initially worked as SRH lost Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma cheaply without causing much damage.
Fleming later admitted CSK’s bowlers did not receive the same assistance from the surface.
“Our bowlers are more seam bowlers. This was the first time we’ve had a pitch that’s slow and holding. We didn’t get the same assistance as they did. Whether there was a little bit of moisture from dew, I’m not sure. But it certainly wasn’t as inconsistent as what we felt in the first innings,” Fleming said.
Out of the 11 overs bowled by Mukesh Choudhary, Johnson, and Anshul Kamboj, only 18 per cent were slower-ball variations, making anticipation easier for the batters.
Even CSK’s spinners failed to create sustained pressure as Ishan Kishan and Heinrich Klaasen stitched together a match-winning 75-run partnership. Franklin described the stand as “unbelievable.”
“Today, batters had to craft their innings differently. I thought Ishan’s innings was full of maturity, the way he assessed what he needed to do and how he needed to do it,” Franklin said. “I’d guess if you asked Kishan, so far in this year’s IPL, that was probably his best innings.”
Klaasen, meanwhile, showcased why he remains one of the world’s best middle-order batters during his 47 off 26 balls. He used sweeps and reverse sweeps effectively against the spinners while Kishan calmly found gaps and rotated strike.
“It’s one of the best middle-order batting performances you’ll see through an IPL season, what he’s producing at the moment,” Franklin said. “Reading the situation, batting at a tempo that keeps the scoreboard moving positively, and ultimately having a significant impact on the game.”
Ultimately, SRH’s superior execution on the surface proved decisive, sealing a top-four berth with a clinical all-round display, while CSK’s chances of qualifying for the IPL 2026 playoffs took a major hit.
Published on May 19, 2026
