A listless Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) suffered third straight defeat when they went down by seven runs to SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the 14th IPL match on Friday — and dropped to the bottom of the points table in the eight-team tournament.

Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) dismal run continued as they lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven runs on Thursday to register their third defeat in four matches in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League.

Batting first, Hyderabad posted a competitive total of 164 before restricting CSK to 157/5. The result at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium saw CSK dropping to the bottom of the points table.

The script was similar in both the innings as both the sides witnessed a top-order collapse with their middle-order trying to salvage pride.

For Hyderabad, it was Priyam Garg (51 off 26 balls), Abhishek Sharma (31 off 24) and Manish Pandey (29 off 21) who helped their team in crossing the 150+ mark after the Orange Army were reduced to 69/4 in 11 overs.

Chasing, CSK were down to 42/4 in the ninth over before skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (47 off 36 balls) and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja (50 off 35) tried to get their team back into the contest.

With the required run-rate continuously mounting and Jadeja getting out, Dhoni and Sam Curran (15 not out) then tried their best to chase down the target by going for big hits. However, it wasn’t enough to stop SRH from registering their second consecutive win of the tournament.

For SRH, T. Natarajan scalped two wickets while Samad, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar – who sustained injury and left the field during the fourth and final over of his quota, picked a wicket apiece.

Earlier, opting to bat on winning the toss, SRH witnessed a top-order collapse, but youngsters Garg (51 not out) and Abhishek were involved in a rescue act that propelled their side to a respectable total.

Starting the proceedings, SRH received an early jolt as Deepak Chahar dismantled opener Jonny Bairstow’s stumps in the very first over and with a run on board.

David Warner (28) and Pandey (29) then tried to repair the damage as the 2016 champions were 42/1 in the initial six overs. The duo, however, failed to convert their partnership into something big as Shardul Thakur broke the 46-run stand in the eighth over.

Warner and New Zealander Kane Williamson were then involved in a brief 22-run stand before Piyush Chawla got rid of the Aussie in the 11th over.

Despite the top-order collapse, which comprised some of the most experienced batters of the game, young Garg and Abhishek Sharma’s rescue act was pleasing.

Chahar finally got a breakthrough in the 18th over as he dismissed Abhishek, terminating the 77-run stand. Garg, however, continued to collect runs, and in the process, notched up his maiden IPL half-century, off 23 balls.

The youngster was joined by Abdul Samad (8 not out) after Abhishek’s departure and they took their side to 164/5 in the allotted 20 overs quota. The lack of power hitters in the SRH middle-order was clear visible as they failed to post a big total after the top-order collapse.

For CSK, Chahar picked two wickets for 31 while Shardul and Chawla settled with one each.

Brief scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 164/5 wkts in 20 overs (Priyam Garg 51 not out, Abhishek Sharma 31; Deepak Chahar 2/31) beat Chennai Super Kings 157/5 wkts in 20 overs (Ravindra Jadeja 50, MS Dhoni 47 not out; T Natarajan 2/43) by 7 runs

With IANS inputs