Harshal Patel from Sunrisers Hyderabad talked about how he got the better of MS Dhoni during a key match against Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Friday. He focused on keeping his length to take down the star player. This was the fourth time he’s dismissed Dhoni in T20s, trailing only Pragyan Ojha and Zaheer Khan for the most dismissals of him.
Harshal bowled a short and wide ball outside off, and when Dhoni went for a cut shot, it went straight to Abhishek Sharma at backward point. I was aiming to bowl at a good length to him—not too wide. Sometimes you try a variation, and it works out, so I’m glad it did, he said after winning Player of the Match with impressive figures of 4-0-28-4.
Harshal also got Sam Curran, Dewald Brevis, and Noor Ahmad out, helping Hyderabad keep Chennai to just 154, a total they chased down in the second-to-last over. This win was important for Hyderabad as it kept them in the competition, moving them up to eighth place in the standings. It was their first win over Chennai at their home ground after losing five times in the past 12 years.
“We’ve been working on this for a few games. Some parts weren’t fitting together, but it feels good when everything comes together like this, especially when we need to win all our matches,” Harshal added. The Indian pacer used a change of pace well, backed up by captain Pat Cummins and other experienced bowlers like Mohammed Shami and Jaydev Unadkat. Brevis was Chennai’s top scorer with 42 runs off 25 balls, while Deepak Hooda added 22 runs towards the end.
Chennai had a rough start, losing Shaik Rasheed on the very first ball bowled by Shami, who caught him after a poky shot. Next up for Sunrisers Hyderabad is a match against the Gujarat Titans on May 2.