SRH vs CSK, IPL 2024: Adapting to slow nature of surface was crucial, says Jaydev Unadkat

A bright start fizzled away as Hyderabad restricted Chennai to 165/5, with the home side gunning down the total in 18.1 overs, winning the encounter by six wickets.

Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Jaydev Unadkat, third left, celebrates with teammates after the dismissal of Chennai Super Kings’ Ajinkya Rahane during the Indian Premier League match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings. | Photo Credit: MAHESH KUMAR A/ AP

Sunrisers Hyderabad came up with a brilliant ploy at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Friday as Chennai Super Kings suffered its second consecutive loss of the season.

It was a venue where the Pat Cummins-led side posted the highest total in the IPL - 277/3 against the Mumbai Indians - and despite winning the toss Cummins resisted the temptation to bat first and instead opted to bowl. The decision proved to be a masterstroke. 

Ahead of the match, Mike Hussey, the batting coach of Chennai, asserted on adapting to the conditions. Chennai was off to a sedate start and although they lost Rachin Ravindra and skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ajinkya Rahane and Shivam Dude forged a 65-run partnership for the third wicket to keep the Sunrisers at bay. 

But Cummins bringing himself into the attack at the halfway stage, changed the complexion of the game. The weapon was slow cutters and bowling into the surface. Jaydev Unadkat, too, followed his skipper’s footsteps with the veteran Bhuvneshwar Kumar finally hitting his straps and applying the choke on Chennai’s batting. 

A bright start fizzled away as Chennai posted 165/5 with the home side gunning down the total in 18.1 overs, winning the encounter by six wickets. 

Undadkat explained how the slower ball trick helped the Sunrisers ground the high-flying Super Kings. 

“I think what I have seen so far both the wickets were such where the slow balls were sticking into the pitch and it’s about adapting to the conditions and the conditions were suitable for those kind of deliveries and also the opposition.

“It’s a venue where there are big square boundaries and you can utilize that as a bowler and that’s why we have been planning those sort of deliveries but that doesn’t mean that we are going only this strategy going forward in this tournament. It will depend on what surface we will be playing and adapting to the surface will be crucial,” Unadkat who bowled a brilliant spell of 4-0-29-1 said during a media interaction. 

Rahane has been instrumental in setting a foundation for the innings and the India international got a start by blasting two boundaries and a maximum. Rahane likes pace but Unadkat deceived him by taking the pace off the ball with a 108 kmph delivery as the batsman sliced straight to the man at backward point. 

From there on Cummins and Unadkat utilised the slowness from the black soil surface as the cutters and the slower bouncers caged the Chennai batsmen.

Unadkat also welcomed the two-bouncer rule.

“Even if the surface would have played differently, the moment it was decided that there are going to be two bouncers in an over, that’s when all the bowlers decided that we got to use it at a certain point.

“Someone who has pace can use those bouncers but slower bouncers are working nowadays because the batsmen are trying to muscle the ball out of the ground, especially with the Impact Player rule. You have to use those variations in T20 and keep the batsmen guessing. As a bowler you have to be unpredictable about what your lines will be and also about the pace,” he said. 

Sunrisers Hyderabad’s skipper Pat Cummins celebrates a wicket during the match against Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. | Photo Credit: X @SunRisers

Meanwhile, Chennai coach Stephen Fleming kept his faith in lef-armer Mukesh Choudhary who leaked 27 runs in just one over. It was in the second over of the chase where Abhishek Sharma tope apart the bowler with three sixes and two boundaries and after the hammering there was no sign of the bowler. 

“We had a chance to introduce Mukesh Chaudhary today. He was good for us a while back. It wasn’t his day. But that’s part of the IPL,” Fleming said. 

Chennai missed Mustafizur Rahman, who would have been the perfect bowler with his slower ones on this surface but the pacer is in Bangladesh to get his visa for the T20 World Cup. Fleming did concede that they missed Mustafizur.

“Without a doubt, it’s part of the IPL. He’s not here, so we can’t use him,” the coach said.