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Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 19 (ANI): Following Sunrisers Hyderabad's (SRH) win over Chennai Super Kings (CSK), former South African cricketer Dale Steyn hailed pacer Eshan Malinga's pinpoint yorkers
Following the fifties from Abhishek Sharma and Heinrich Klaasen, which took SRH to 194/9, fine bowling performances from pacers, particularly a three-wicket haul from Eshan Malinga, in the second half of CSK's batting, strangulated the Men in Yellow run-rate-wise and left them 10 runs short.
Speaking on 'Cricket Live', JioStar expert Steyn termed the match a "little humdinger", saying, "Sunrisers, after the first few overs where they were conceding runs at almost 14 an over, made a good comeback by picking up a couple of wickets. There were a couple of breaks that went in SRH's favour. After (Ruturaj) Gaikwad's dismissal, as CSK started building a few partnerships, they kept losing wickets in the middle period when Malinga came into play."
"So, in the end, the pressure was on Chennai. When CSK needed to play big shots, the pinpoint yorkers came in from Malinga, right on the block hole. It was a fantastic bit of death bowling from SRH at the back end," he added.
On Eshan's brilliant bowling spell, Steyn said that he "rushed" skipper Gaikwad with a bouncer, and he surprised the opponent with a bouncer after plenty of length balls, which produced a lot of runs.
"He (Eshan) did not stop there. He managed to get two more big wickets of Matthew Short and Sarfaraz Khan. I thought he bowled well, managed his lengths well, and as the ball got a bit older and started to tail, he managed to hit the block hole. It was a fantastic piece of bowling by this young lad from Sri Lanka," he added.
The former Proteas pacer also hailed compatriot Heinrich Klaasen for his consistent performances that earned him the Orange Cap for most runs in the season so far, calling him a "one-man army" who takes SRH to good scores after troublesome situations.
"Klaasen knows he has the potential to clear the ropes easily and up his strike-rate whenever he wants. He is such a boundary hitter, a powerful hitter. This season, he has played incredibly well and held the innings together for Sunrisers. Whenever they get into a little trouble and lose a couple of wickets, Klaasen is always there, standing like a one-man army to bail them out and get them to good scores. He is also wearing the Orange Cap now. With his consistent batting performances, he truly deserves to be the holder of that cap this season," he said.
In six innings, he has scored 283 runs at an average of 47.16, with a strike rate of 144.38, with three fifties and a best score of 62.
SRH has now jumped to fourth spot in the points table, with three wins and three losses.CSK is at the seventh spot, with two wins and four losses.CSK put SRH to bowl first, and half-centuries from Abhishek Sharma (59 in 22 balls, with six fours and four sixes) and Heinrich Klaasen (59 in 39 balls, with six fours and two sixes) took SRH to 194/9.
During the run-chase of 195, CSK was in contention courtesy of knocks from Ayush Mhatre (30 in 13 balls, with five fours and a six), Matthew Short (34 in 30 balls, with three fours) and Sarfaraz Khan (25 in 16 balls, with three fours), but spells from Eshan (3/29), Nitish Kumar Reddy (2/31), Sakib Hussain (1/32) and Shivang Kumar (1/18) kept the pressure on CSK during the second half, leaving them 10 runs short. (ANI)