IPL 2024: A battered Sunrisers Hyderabad takes on the inconsistent Chennai Super Kings
In their IPL encounter here on Sunday, the reigning champion Chennai Super Kings, who have suffered back-to-back defeats, will be itching to get back on track against a tough but battered Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Under new captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, CSK made a strong start to the season, but in their past two games, the Lucknow Super Giants have defeated them twice.
Fans of the Yellow Brigade had never seen the Chepauk citadel broken before, as LSG easily defeated a target of 210 runs, led by a magnificent century from Marcus Stoinis.
CSK is now tied for fifth place with eight points with the Delhi Capitals and Gujarat Titans after eight games with four wins and as many defeats. They will be eager to regain their form, as things may easily spiral out of control as the playoff race heats up.
On Sunday, CSK will play the third-place Sunrisers Hyderabad, who have already surpassed the record for the highest IPL total twice this season. However, Sunrisers Hyderabad enters the match after their ultra-batting strategy failed.
The core of CSK’s batting has been captain Gaikwad, who recently scored only his second IPL century, and in-form Shivam Dube, who once again dazzled with a fifty.
Although Ravindra Jadeja also contributed with the bat, there remains an issue with the top-order’s uneven form. The insufficient runs from Dary Mitchell and Rachin Ravindra are concerning, and CSK has been obliged to rearrange their batting order as a result.
The unusually large quantity of dew at Chepauk pulled the hosts’ spinners out of the game, forcing the hosts to toil hard against LSG considering their bowling, and the visitors took full advantage of it throughout their 213-run chase.
The four LSG wickets that the CSK pacers were able to take did not aid the spinners, who also had difficulty gripping the ball due to their frequent misfields.
On the other side, RCB pulled a high-flying SRH to earth on Thursday when they lost at home by 35 runs, just their third loss of the season.
It won’t, however, likely discourage the SRH hitters, who would like their chances against a patchy CSK.
After SRH’s middle and top order collapsed as a team against RCB, head coach Daniel Vettori had to concede that it may not have been the best choice to go all out with the bat in the second innings.
The visitor batting order is unlikely to change, although Aiden Markram may have to bat higher since he was removed in single digits in the previous two games.
Senior seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar is the lone bowler who has the potential to get hit, since he has only taken one wicket in the previous three games.
With players like Akash Singh, Fazalhaq Farooqi, and Umran Malik awaiting their turn in the wings, SRH could consider giving them an opportunity, particularly the Jammu pacer who can bowl at a rate of more than 150 kmph.
Although SRH would like to bat first, both sides will be monitoring the unexpected dew factor, since they have won four of their past five games this season when defending.
Squads:
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (wk), Ajay Mandal, Mukesh Choudhary, Rachin Ravindra, Shardul Thakur, Daryl Mitchell, Sameer Rizvi, Mustafizur Rahman, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Mitchell Santner, Tushar Deshpande, Matheesha Pathirana, Simarjeet Singh, Prashant Solanki, Maheeesh Theekshana, Shaik Rasheed, Nishant Sindhu, Ajay Mandal, Rachin Ravindra, Ajay Jadeja, Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad ©, Ajinkya Rahane, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, and Avinash Rao Aravelly.
Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Aiden Markram, Abdul Samad, Nitish Reddy, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins ©, Jaydev Unadkat, T Natarajan, Mayank Markande, Umran Malik, Anmolpreet Singh, Glenn Phillips, Rahul Tripathi, Washington Sundar, Upendra Yadav, Jhatavedh Subramanyan, Sanvir Singh, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Marco Jansen, Akash Maharaj Singh, and Mayank Agarwal are the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
