When Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) defeated Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in their own stadium, they finally overcame the Chepauk jinx. SRH decided to bowl, and Mohammed Shami’s dismissal of Shaik Rasheed on the opening ball of the game instantly confirmed the choice.
The 17-year-old Ayush Mhatre (30 off 19) was tasked with boosting the CSK innings twice in two IPL 2025 matches. Just prior to his premature termination, Ravindra Jadeja was leading CSK to victory. After struggling early on, Dewald Brevis (42 off 25) played brilliantly. Under the circumstances, Harshal Patel (4 for 28) and Pat Cummins (2 for 21) bowled brilliantly, and none of the other CSK batsmen were able to accomplish much. Alongside him, Jaydev Unadkat bowled CSK out for a mere 154.
Khaleel Ahmed got rid of Abhishek Sharma with the second delivery, and SRH’s chase encountered similar difficulties.
Although Travis Head was unusually quiet, Ishan Kishan (44 off 34) stabilised the innings. The bowlers for CSK, however, weren’t giving up easily. CSK, under the leadership of Noor Ahmad (2 for 42), hit frequently and controlled the run rate during the middle overs. But Nitish Kumar Reddy and Kamindu Mendis (32* off 22) stayed firm in the end, ensuring that CSK lost at home for the fourth time in a row.
Here are the most important numbers from the game:
1 – Ayush Mhatre and Shaik Rasheed are the first-ever opening pair in IPL history with both openers being below 21 years of age.
5 – Shaik Rasheed became the fifth CSK batter, and the first since 2015, to be dismissed on the first ball of an IPL match. Parthiv Patel (2008), Subramaniam Badrinath (2009), Srikkanth Anirudha (2011), and Dwayne Smith (2015) are the others.
3 – Mohammed Shami is only the third SRH bowler to take a wicket off the first ball of an IPL match. The other two are Jagadeesan Suchith in 2022 and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in 2023.
1 – Mohammed Shami has become the first bowler to take a wicket off the first ball of an IPL match four times in his career. No other bowler has done it thrice, while Dirk Nannes, Lasith Malinga, Trent Boult, Umesh Yadav, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have achieved this twice.
3 – This match was the third instance of CSK being bowled out in an IPL game at Chepauk. In each of the previous two instances, MI were the bowling team. CSK were dismissed for 112 in 2012 and 109 in 2019 before this.
1 – This match marked the first time that SRH beat CSK at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai in an IPL match.
4 – Four is the joint-most number of matches that CSK have lost at home in a single IPL season. CSK also lost four games at Chepauk in both 2008 and 2012. Incidentally, they finished runners-up in both of those seasons.
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