The 2016 title winners Sunrisers Hyderabad will once again lock horns with the Chennai Super Kings at the Dubai International Stadium- the same venue the two teams met last week. The much anticipated clash will mark the 29th match of the Indian Premier League. Sunrisers will definitely have the upper hand coming into the match as the last these two met the 2016 champions had a narrow seven runs victory over the Old Daddies.
Both the teams will come into this match with contrasting backgrounds as SRH after a poor start to their campaign have bounced back well and managed to win back to back matches. While, CSK on the other side are having one of their worst seasons so far and it could be one of those rare occasions when they do not make it to the play-offs.
The last encounter between the two sides saw SRH win the toss and choose to bat first. They put up a score of 164 with the help of Priyam Garg and Abishek Sharma who scored 51 and 31 respectively. CSK though started off their innings by losing early wickets and were reduced to 42 for the loss of 4 wickets.
MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja put up a wonderful partnership with the cameo of Sam Curran at the later part of the innings. But the Men in Yellow left it too much for the end and ended up on the losing side by seven runs.
Sunrisers though are on coming on back of loss, as they once again the brilliance of Rahul Tewatia ensured the Rajasthan Royals are still alive in the tournament. While the CSK have been on a two match losing streak after they lost the encounter against the Royal Challengers Bangalore by a whopping margin of thirty seven runs.
Can the Sunrisers Hyderabad join the double-digit club in the points table? Or will MS Dhoni and Co. finally turn the tables to their side?
Head to Head
Matches Played- 14, SRH- 4, CSK- 10, N/R- 0
Team News
The Sunrisers would be very happy to bounce back after the shaky start they had at the beginning of their campaign. Though they ended up on the losing side against the Rajasthan Royals, in what was a thriller of a match. The management is likely to stick to the same playing Xl which has been doing a wonderful job in the last few matches.
Chennai Super Kings on the other side would be happy with the way N.Jagadeesan performed in his debut match and he is likely to cement his place. While Bravo has shown issues with his fitness and likely requiring more time to recover from the injury, the South African spinner Imran Tahir could be given an opportunity.
Pitch and Conditions
The Dubai pitch has been friendly to the batsmen and is expected to play the same way for this encounter. Though the odd bounce and occasional holding up of the pitch may favor the slower bowlers at times. The score of 170 seems to be a winning total on this pitch and any score over the 170 mark, the team can fancy their chances.
As the match is scheduled to take place in the evening the due is expected to play an important role once again.
The Conditions are once again ideal for cricket as no rain is expected whatsoever. In what comes a huge relief for the players the temperatures for the first in the tournament is expected to be less than 30 degree mark. While the humidity too is expected to be on the lower side- in the 60% range.
Probable Playing Xl
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH): David Warner (c), Jonny Bairstow (wk), Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Vijay Shankar, Priyam Garg, Abhishek Sharma, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed, T Natarajan
Chennai Super Kings (CSK): Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (c & wk), N Jagadeesan, Sam Curran, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo/Imran Tahir, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Karn Sharma
Key Battles
Faf du Plessis (CSK) vs T. Natarajan (SRH)
Chennai Super Kings opener Faf du Plessis has been one of the pillars of the team along with his fellow opening partner Shane Watson. The South African has been in really great touch and surely a contention for the orange cap. Though he has not been receiving any support from the middle-order, the Former proteas captain has been taking a lot of burden on his shoulders. The 36-year old has played 7 matches this season and has managed to score 307 runs at a strike-rate of 147.59. He is currently positioned third in the list of most runs scored this season.
SRH will surely be aware of the destruction the South African can cause and will be eyeing his wicket from the word go. SRH have one of the best bowling line-ups and the 29-year old T. Natarajan has been showing great signs of improvement this season. He has evolved to be a fantastic death over bowlers and with his ability to contain the batsmen during the powerplay he is surely someone who can put the CSK opener under pressure.
Can Faf du Plessis close in on the orange cap? Or will the sensational Natarajan castle him out early?
David Warner (SRH) vs Shardul Thakur (CSK)
The Australian opener is undoubtedly one of the best foreign players in the tournament and his hunger for runs is not done yet. Though he took time to get going, the left-hander has now got hold of the proceedings and has been scoring fluently in the last few matches. He has already made a catch up in the list of the most runs scored in this season. Warner is now positioned fourth in the list of most runs with 275 runs from the 7 matches played so far.
Chennai Super Kings to keep their hopes alive in the tournament will have to remove the big fish early in the innings. Though CSK has been struggling to win matches, their bowling has been top notch. The inclusion of Shardul Thakur has made things better for them as he has been picking up the crucial wickets for CSK. The pacer will be looking forward to doing it once again for his team by picking up the dangerous Warner.
The Australian is 19 runs away from reaching the 5000- run mark in IPL. Can he become the fourth player to reach the milestone? Or will Thakur spoil the party?
Prediction
Sunrisers Hyderabad look stronger on the sheets to win the game as the players have been in good form. The Chennai Super Kings are having one of the worst seasons as they have managed to win only 2 matches out of the seven played. But, CSK are a team that play with a never give up attitude and looking at the overall stats, they are a team that should never be written off.
The Chennai Super kings will have to play their skins out in order keep their hopes alive and it does promise to be a thrilling match as MS Dhoni and Co. will be doing everything to win the match.
The fact that Chennai Super Kings have an incredible head to head record against the SRH, winning 10 matches out of the 14 played will give the Men in Yellow a slight advantage in regards to their confidence.
Cricwizz predicts Chennai Super Kings to win the match
