IPL 2018, Qualifier 1: Faf du Plessis stamps CSK's ticket to final

Mumbai: Faf du Plessis booked Chennai Super Kings (CSK) ticket to the finals with a match-winning knock to beat Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by two wickets in the first Qualifier of the 2018 Indian Premier League (IPL) on Tuesday.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar got Sunrisers Hyderabad off to a flyer by dismissing Shane Watson off the very first ball. Siddharth Kaul later stunned the CSK crowd with wickets of Suresh Raina and Ambati Rayudu in two consecutive deliveries.

The table toppers then began to tighten the screws by bringing in Rashid Khan who spun a web around the opposition. The Afghani youngster was accountable for the dismissals of MS Dhoni and Dwayne Bravo that put more pressure on the two-time winners.

They weren’t done yet. Sandeep Sharma joined the party by removing Ravindra Jadeja and Deepak Chahar. Opener Faf du Plessis kept ploughing a lonely furrow but was short of support at the other end.

However, the explosive South African turned the tide with some hard-hitting in the death after taking time to set.

The Orange Army will now have another shot at making it to the finals as they face the winners from the Eliminator between Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

CSK 117-8 after 18 overs:

RUNOUT! A quick throw by Rashid at deep cover finds Harbhajan short of his crease.

HALF CENTURY! Faf du Plessis has stood tall right from the start. But can he take CSK all the way?

CSK 93-7 after 16 overs:

REVIEW OVERTURNED! Du Plessis is struck on the knee roll by Rashid and the umpire raises his finger. But following a review, the ball shows sliding towards leg but missing the stumps. Rashid finishes his spell with figures of 2-0-11-2

CSK 92-7 after 15 overs:

WHAT A STUNNER! Fullish delivery by Sandeep, Chahar holes it out towards Brathwaite at long on.

CSK 66-6 after 13 overs:

SANDEEP SHARMA STRIKES! Knuckle ball, Jadeja fails to read it and presents a catch straight back to the bowler.

CSK 61-5 after 12 overs:

CAUGHT! Rashid spins his magic again. Googly and Bravo slashes hard only to find Dhawan at first slip.

CSK 50-4 after 10 overs:

FIFTY UP! The required run rate is shooting up. Bravo and Faf du Plessis need to fire every over to reach the target or the game might soon slip away from their hands.

CSK 48-4 after 9 overs:

RASHID, YOU BEAUTY! MS Dhoni is disappointed as he makes his way back to the pavilion. Tossed up, inviting the CSK skipper for the drive and the ball rushes through the gates before crashing into the stumps.

CSK 33-3 after 6 overs:

Huge pressure on CSK now after the end of powerplay. SRH have got what they needed - early wickets. A few tight overs will help Kane Williamson and team.

CSK 24-3 after 4 overs:

TWO IN TWO! Kaul is ecstatic and why not? Ambati Rayudu is cleaned up by a yorker and departs back for a duck.

BOWLED! Another one and Siddarth Kaul joins the party. Down leg and Raina looks to flick it away but turns sharply back in.

CSK 1-1 after 1 over:

WICKET! First ball and Bhuvi gets the big fish. Makes Watson to play and the Australian falls for the trap.

1st innings:

Chennai Super Kings restricted Sunrisers Hyderabad to 139-7 in their Indian Premier League Qualifier 1 encounter here on Tuesday.

Deepak Chahar struck in the very first ball of the match, seeing off Shikhar Dhawan.

Nothing was going right for SRH despite cameos from Kane Williamson (24) and Yusuf Pathan (24).

However, Carlos Brathwaite and Bhuvneshwar Kumar came to the rescue as the 2016 champions bounced back to finish at a decent total.

SRH 115-6 from 18 overs

The Men in Orange have gone past 100, with Carlos Brathwaite (23) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (5) still batting. Will they reach close to 150?

SRH 88-6 from 15 overs

WICKET! Yusuf Pathan is the next to depart, as he is dismissed for 24 by Dwayne Bravo!

SRH 69-5 from 11.4 overs

WICKET! Manish Pandey is caught and bowled by Ravindra Jadeja as he is dismissed for eight runs.

SRH 64-4 from 10 overs

CSK are clearly in the drivers' seat at the halfway stage, especially with marquee players like Shikhar Dhawan and Kane Williamson gone. Manish Pandey (6 runs) and Yusuf Pathan (9) will be eager to build a strong partnership.

SRH 50-4 from 6.4 overs

WICKET! First catch of the night for captain Dhoni as Dwayne Bravo sees off Shakib Al Hasan for 12 runs.

SRH 36-3 from 4.2 overs

WICKET! SRH would have lost the most important wicket of this match, as Shardul Thakur sees off Kane Williamson

SRH 34-2 from 4 overs

WICKET! Lungi Ngidi joins the party as he sees off Shreevats Goswami, which is caught and bowled by himself.

SRH 18-1 after 2 overs

Kane Williamson has got to a strong start after the early dismissal oof Shikhar Dhawan. While Williamson has already scored 13 runs, Shreevats Goswami (5 runs) is supporting him from the other end.

SRH 0-1 from 0.1 overs

WICKET! Deepak Chahar strikes in the very first ball as he sees off Shikhar Dhawan for a duck.

Toss update

Chennai Super Kings have won the toss and have decided to field.

While CSK have made one change, Kane Williamson's side is going unchanged.

For CSK, Shane Watson comes back and replaces Sam Billings.

Preview

The Indian Premier League (IPL) has entered its most exciting stage. The Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) are set to lock horns with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Qualifier 1 of the tournament as the knockout stage kicks off at the Wankhede Stadium here on Tuesday.

As a result, Kane Williamson’s men will hope to avoid a hat-trick of defeats, having lost to MS Dhoni and co on both occasions during the league stage.

If Ambati Rayudu has had a breakthrough season for CSK, then it is Williamson himself who has stepped up and filled the void left by SRH’s previous captain David Warner.

Williamson, who has already amassed 661 runs in 14 games, will get a chance to go past Delhi Daredevils’ Rishab Pant (681 runs) and claim the Orange Cap.

In their last match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Williamson got off to a start, but it was a rare instance when he departed for 36 and failed to covert a start to a big innings.

MS Dhoni’s form this season goes without saying, for obvious reasons. The 36-year-old has already aggregated 446 runs from 14 games in his return to CSK colours and all eyes will be on ‘Thala’ come the big day.

Another positive for the Chennai franchise has been Lungi Ngidi. The South African, in his debut IPL season, has already impressed his teammates and fans by picking up nine wickets from just five matches.

In fact, CSK’s third-highest wicket-taker is coming fresh from a match-winning spell of 4/10 against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) and will look to add more wickets to the tally on Tuesday.

The head-to-head record favours the Men in Yellow, who have won six out of the eight games against SRH. Add to that, this season, too, CSK have been dominant, beating the Hyderabad franchise in both the league encounters.

Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni(Captain),  Ambati Rayudu, Shane Watson, Suresh Raina, Sam Billings, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Harbhajan Singh, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Lungi Ngidi, Faf du Plessis Kanishk Seth, Dhruv Shorey, Imran Tahir, Murali Vijay, Mark Wood, Monu Kumar, Chaitanya Bishnoi, Karn Sharma, N Jagadeesan, David Willey, KM Asif, Kshitiz Sharma.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Kane Williamson(Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Shreevats Goswami, Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan, Carlos Brathwaite, Shakib Al Hasan, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul, Sandeep Sharma, Alex Hales, Ricky Bhui, Deepak Hooda, T Natarajan, Mohammad Nabi, Basil Thampi, K Khaleel Ahmed, Sachin Baby, Chris Jordan, Tanmay Agarwal, Mehdi Hasan, Bipul Sharma.

When is the match?

The match is scheduled to start at 7 P.M. IST on Tuesday, May 22nd.

Where is the match?

The match will take place at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.

 Live telecast and timings:

With Star India now acquiring the media rights from Sony Pictures Network India for the upcoming season, the matches will be telecast on various Star Sports channels.

Live streaming:

The matches can be viewed live on Hotstar.com or on the Hotstar app.