Kane Williamson’s gritty knock in vain as Chennai Super Kings beat Sunrisers Hyderabad to win IPL 2018

Kane Williamson scored 47 off 36 balls but it went in vain as Chennai Super Kings defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets to win their third Indian Premier League (IPL) title at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.

Kane Williamson, the Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper, continued his stupendous form in the Indian Premier League this season as he scored a fine 36-ball 47 en route becoming the third-highest run-getter in a single edition of the IPL. (CSK vs SRH IPL 2018 FINAL HIGHLIGHTS)

Kane Williamson in action during the 2018 Indian Premier League (IPL) final between Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.(PTI)

He had aggregated 688 runs before the start of the final against Chennai Super Kings, here at the Wankhede Stadium, and only required 12 runs to join the likes of Michael Hussey, Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and David Warner to notch 700 runs in a single edition of the IPL. (CSK vs SRH IPL 2018 FINAL SCORES)

Sent in to bat first after losing the toss, Hyderabad were in a spot of bother early on with Shreevats Goswami heading back with just 13 runs on the board. Shikhar Dhawan and Williamson then stitched a fine 51-run partnership to help their side out of trouble, as they’ve done throughout the season. Dhawan was cleaned up by Jadeja after a modest 25-ball 26 but Williamson held on from the other end to steer his side past the 100-run mark.

Williamson had five boundaries and two gigantic sixes laced in his knock. He switched gears after the fourth finished as a maiden from Lungi Ngidi. Deepak Chahar, who had given away just nine runs in his first two overs was launched for a six over long leg before being pulled for a boundary.

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He didn’t take unnecessary risks and kept rotating the strike with Dhawan before Bravo bore the brunt of his clean hitting. Bowling the eighth over, Bravo had sent down a slower one to surprise the well-settled Williamson and the Kiwi cricketer simply launched him through the cover region for a boundary and then followed it up by sweeping the very next delivery for a six over fine leg.

He was lucky twice as well with two shots falling just of the fielders while running down to the boundary. But just as it seemed he would go on to notch his ninth half century of the season, he was sent packing by Karn Sharma. The bowler sent down a wide delivery down the off stump and Williamson, who rarely plays a pre-meditated shot, simply stepped out to try and go for the maximum. He didn’t reach the ball and the swift hands of Mahendra Singh Dhoni did the rest behind the stumps.