IPL 2022 | SRH vs CSK | Superstar and Under performer of the match

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) squared off against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the 46th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 at the MCA Stadium in Pune. The two teams made most of the perfect batting conditions and gifted the spectators a high-scoring thriller.

The match saw a total of 391 runs being scored at a rate of 9.77 runs per over. Which displays the dominance of the batters in the game. So, in a match where batters dominated, a bowler doing a more than decent job deserves to be the ‘Superstar of the Match.’

Thus, Mukesh Choudhary’s bowling efforts during CSK’s defence make him the ‘Superstar of the Match’.

Match Situation: SRH started their pursuit of 203 runs on a great note. The openers Abhishek Sharma and Kane Williamson gave them a blazing start and brought up the 50 of the team within the fifth over. 

After the end of the fifth over, MS Dhoni brought back Mukesh Choudhary for his second over in the powerplays. He just conceded six runs in the over and picked up the wickets of Abhishek Sharma and Rahul Tripathi.

Sharma was batting with a strike rate of 162.5 and could have taken away the game from CSK if he had lasted longer. On the other hand, Rahul Tripathi has batted with a strike rate of 172.73 in the tournament. So, sending him back in the first ball brought CSK back into the match and established their stronghold in the game.

Choudhary came back into the attack again in the 18th over. The equation for Hyderabad at this stage was 56 runs off 18 deliveries. They required nearly 19 runs per over but had six wickets in hand, and Nicholas Pooran was still there. 

All Pooran needed was a bit of support from players like Shashank Singh and Washington Sundar to take his team home. Also, the exploits of Shashank Singh in the last match made the fans hope that he would play a significant part in the chase.

But Choudhary picked up Shashank Singh and Washington Sundar in the over and conceded just six runs. This shifted the balance of the match entirely in CSK’s favour. In a game where 9.77 runs were scored per over, the left-arm pacer’s economy rate was just 7.33 in the first three overs of his quota. 

Although he conceded 24 runs in the last over, the match was well beyond SRH’s reach by the time. Hence, the remarkable bowling exploits of Mukesh Choudhary make him the ‘Superstar of the Match’.

Underperformer of the Match: SRH was chasing a target of 203 runs from their 20 overs and needed to score at a rate of 10.1 from the beginning of the innings. Abhishek Sharma gave them an ideal start scoring at a strike rate of 162.5. He also allowed Kane Williamson to go about the business in his way. Williamson got settled, and it was required for him to go big after this.

But he kept leaving it late to go big, and the onslaught never really came. He scored 47 runs off 37 deliveries. His strike rate in the middle was 127.03, which was below par given the situation of the match. However, given his class, he played out six overs in the middle 55-60 runs were expected out of him.

If Williamson had gone along with the required rate, SRH would have had 10 to 15 runs more, and the picture of the match would have been different. Thus, not being able to play as per the demands of the situation makes Kane Williamson the ‘Underperformer of the Match.’