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Rediff.com  » Cricket » Turning Point: Amazing Rayudu and Raina

Turning Point: Amazing Rayudu and Raina

By Norma Godinho
April 23, 2018 09:42 IST
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Suresh Raina congratulates Ambati Rayudu on completing his half-century against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday

IMAGE: Suresh Raina congratulates Ambati Rayudu on completing his half century against the Sunrisers Hyderabad. Photograph: BCCI

When Surisers Hyderabad Captain Kane Williamson won the toss and elected to bowl, it seemed the right decision.

There was some swing and the ball was doing a bit.

Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis opened the batting for CSK and looked edgy. Runs were hard to come by.

 

Faf got lucky in the second over when he got a thick outside edge, but the ball fell just short of Deepak Hooda at first slip off 'Big Billy' Stanlake's bowling.

CSK had one of their slowest starts this season as Faf and Watto scored just 8 runs off the first 3 overs.

Bhuvaneshwar Kumar came back for his second spell and got the big wicket, Watson, who had hit him for a six in the same over.

In came the in-form Suresh Raina. He took a couple of overs to settle down before finding the gaps with ease.

Rashid Khan came on and struck with his very first ball. He had Faf stumped to end the South African's painful stay at the crease.

 

Raina found an able ally in Ambati Rayudu who started his innings with a bang, hammering Rashid for a 4 to mid-wicket off only the second ball he faced.

Rayudu and Raina got into the groove and found the big shots with regularity. They also took the singles and twos to keep the scorer busy.

Rayudu was the more dominant of the two and brought up his 50 in the 14th over.

R&R brought up their 100-run partnership in 9 overs.

They were particularly severe on Big Billy who bowled wayward and although Rayudu was run out in a silly mix up in the 17th over, the CSK duo had done their job.

Their 112-run partnership gave CSK the necessary charge to go past the 150 mark.

Then the CSK captain came in and delivered some late fireworks as only he can to take his team to 182/3.

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Norma Godinho / Rediff.com

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