Captain Ruturaj Gaikwad (98 off 54 balls) ensured he led from the front once again and pacer Tushar Deshpande (4/27) and the rest of the bowlers chipped in with wickets in regular intervals as the Chennai Super Kings whipped Sunrisers Hyderabad to register a crucial 78-run home win at the Chepauk on Sunday.

Importantly, the win also boosted their net run rate as they climbed up to third in the points table.

Thanks to Gaikwad’s timely strokes and calculated risks, with able assistance from New Zealander Daryl Mitchell (52 off 32 balls), the Super Kings were given a platform after which they could finish at a formidable total of 212/3.

Deshpande then struck thrice in his first two overs, cleaning up the Sunrisers top order by dismissing the dangerous Travis Head, Anmolpreet Singh and Abhishek Sharma. Reduced to 40/3 in the fourth over, the Sunrisers could never recover thereafter, with their problems while chasing a daunting target once again surfacing.

Agreed, the pitch did seem a tad sluggish compared to the belters produced at the other venues.

Chennai Super Kings's batter Daryl Mitchell celebrates his half-century during the IPL 2024 cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad, at MA Chidambaram Stadium, in Chennai, Sunda PTI

The Super Kings bowlers, too, bowled a far better line compared to their Sunrisers counterparts. But surprisingly, there was hardly any urgency shown by Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen during their partnership, which made matters worse for the Sunrisers as they were bowled out for 134 with an over and a ball to spare.

For Gaikwad, this could have been his second successive century in this edition — and third overall in the IPL — after the unbeaten 108 against the Lucknow Super Giants in their previous game, had he got those two more runs. Unfortunately, in the second ball of the final over of CSK’s innings, Gaikwad couldn’t clear long-on when left-arm pacer T. Natarajan took pace off the ball.

Following Ajinkya Rahane’s departure, it was Gaikwad who had taken the initiative to keep CSK’s scoreboard ticking before Mitchell got into his groove and eventually came up with his strokes. With the Black Caps batsman too finding the boundaries, CSK’s scoring rate climbed up to over nine as Gaikwad and he shared 107 for the second wicket in less than 11 overs.

Mitchell fell off left-arm quick Jaydev Unadkat’s bowling soon after bringing up his half-century. Gaikwad’s tempo, however, remained unaffected and for that, credit also has to be given to Shivam Dube (39 not out off 20 balls) for his big hits that kept the Sunrisers bowlers under the cosh.