Big-hitter Dewald Brevis hammers quickfire 57 off 23 balls as bottom-placed CSK post massive 230-5 to crush table-toppers GT by 83 runs; assistant bowling coach S Sriram pleased as Chennai end IPL-18 on winning note
CSK’s Dewald Brevis during his 23-ball 57 vs GT in Ahmedabad yesterday. Pic/PTI
The IPL points table remained unchanged despite Chennai Super Kings’s emphatic 83-run win over league leaders Gujarat Titans on a hot and sweltering Sunday afternoon here. The hosts remained at the top, while Dhoni’s yellow brigade ended their campaign at the bottom of the 10-team league. The Narendra Modi Stadium was bathed in yellow as Dhoni fans turned up in large numbers despite the extremely adverse weather conditions.
GT’s in-form batter Sai Sudharsan walks back after being dismissed for 41 against CSK. Pic/PTI
It was a template that CSK seemed to thrive on as they came up with a couple of quickfire cameos by youngsters, a fifty at the top of the order by a veteran, followed by another rapid fifty at the death by a young gun. “The leadership group definitely has a good idea of what needs to be done, and this was a bit of an example. So, I think it was good to finish off on this note. A lot of things went right for us today, which was very happy and pleasing,” CSK assistant bowling coach Sridharan Sriram said at the post-match press conference.
Ayush Mhatre fires away
CKS’s Ayush Mhatre (34 off 17 balls) began firing on all cylinders in the second over, taking GT’s Arshad Khan (0-42) to the cleaners, smacking the left-arm seamer for three sixes and two fours after taking a brace off the first ball of the over. That 28-run over set the tone for CSK’s batting unit. Home boy Urvil Patel (37 off 19 balls) took over from Mhatre and played a quick cameo before falling to Sai Kishore.
While the young CSK batters hammered the GT bowlers, veteran Devon Conway (52 off 35 balls) held his own with a neat half-century. The Kiwi opener’s exit was followed by a storm named Dewald Brevis (57 off 23 balls), who showered six sixes to propel CSK to an imposing total of 230-5 In reply, GT imploded as they tried chasing 231 to win and seal a place among the Top-2 teams on the table. Sai Sudharsan’s (41 off 28 balls) efforts went in vain.
‘We were not at our best’
GT’s Director of Cricket, Vikram Solanki, admitted that the hosts were outplayed. “We must acknowledge that we were not at our best today. That is the first thing. And I think that goes across the board. We must congratulate CSK. They played very well, but we were probably not at our best,” he said.
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