The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have lost their fourth game in a row this season. A sensational knock from Abhishek Sharma ensured that the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) got their first points on the board through a comfortable win by eight wickets.
It looked like the Super Kings had posted a competitive total on the board, but the SRH opener just took the game away from the Men in Yellow. By the time they got his wicket, it was too late.
Fans on Twitter were understandably disappointed with CSK's lack of fight in the second innings. They are not used to seeing such a champion team struggle and here are some of their reactions:
Abhishek Sharma ends CSK's hopes of first win
A lot of questions were asked about Abhishek Sharma's opening slot for SRH after two failures. The young man from Punjab had his work cut out and had to dig deep. The CSK bowlers didn't get early wickets in the powerplay, but managed to keep SRH openers Kane Williamson and Abhishek quiet.
However, once he got his eye in, the 21-year-old began to take on the opposition bowlers and played some delightful strokes. Chennai did get the big wicket of Williamson, but Rahul Tripathi stormed out of the blocks at No. 3 and denied any momentum to the opposition.
Abhishek couldn't quite take his team home as he was dismissed for a well-made 75 off just 50 deliveries. But Tripathi's quickfire 39 off 15 balls and Nicholas Pooran's finishing touches ensured there were no further hiccups for SRH.
The Super Kings are deeply missing their star pacer Deepak Chahar as the bowling attack looks extremely weak. Skipper Ravindra Jadeja now has some serious thinking to do as every game from now could be a virtual knockout for the four-time IPL champions.
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