Watch| SRH get a wicket out of nowhere after Ambati Rayudu attempts a suicidal run

The IPL is off to an excellent start and we have had some close and tight finishes. In the 20th game of the season, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) hosted Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in an afternoon game, which promised to be a close fight yet again.

Put into bat first, CSK were off to a slow start as they scored the lowest powerplay score of this season, which saw they losing an in-form Shane Watson early. Suresh Raina came next alongside Faf du Plessis, who was playing his first game of the season, and continued to struggle to get going. However, the arrival of Ambati Rayudu, who has gone up and down the batting order in this season for CSK provided impetus to the innings. 

CSK were struggling at one point as the score read 37/2 in 8 overs on a pitch which was holding up. But it seemed like Ambati Rayudu was batting on an entirely different surface. He batted beautifully against the spinners scoring boundaries at will and rotating the strike well. He also used the pace of the fast bowlers well. He struck Billy Stanlake for three fours and a six to shift the momentum of the game at a crucial juncture. He kept going as Raina kept feeding him the strike.

However, it was in the 17th over, which a very bizarre incident which led to the Hyderabadi batsman’s dismissal contrary to everyone's expectation. After striking a cheeky boundary (reverse lap off Siddharth Kaul), Rayudu hit one down to long-off and looked disappointed for missing the connection. The throw came in from long-off but Kaul fumbled slightly giving the pumped up Rayudu a sense of opportunity for an extra run. However, the ball was only a few yards away and Kaul ran and passed the ball back to Kane Williamson who was standing at the bowler’s end and caught CSK’s best batsman short.

Nonetheless, it was a superb innings from the 32-year-old batter as he played a vital role in CSK getting to 182.