Chennai: Smarting from back-to-back losses, defending champion Chennai Super Kings will be desperate to return to winning ways when they face a formidable but bruised Sunrisers Hyderabad in their IPL match here on Sunday. CSK had a good start to the season under new skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad but they have been toppled by the Lucknow Super Giants twice in the last two games.
It was an unfamiliar sight for the Yellow Brigade fans to see the Chepauk fortress being breached as LSG knocked down a target of 210 with ease, thanks to Marcus Stoinis' stunning hundred. With four wins and as many losses in eight games, CSK are currently at fifth spot, tied with eight points with Delhi Capitals and Gujarat Titans and will be keen to find their mojo back as things can quickly go south as the race to playoffs get heated up.
Come Sunday, CSK will be up against third-ranked Sunrisers Hyderabad, who have twice broken the record of highest IPL total this season but are coming into the game following a failure of their ultra-batting approach. CSK's batting has hovered around skipper Gaikwad, who pulled off only his second IPL century the other day, and the in-form Shivam Dube, who once again impressed with yet another fifty.
While Ravindra Jadeja too chipped in with the bat, the inconsistent form of top order is a problem. Both Rachin Ravindra and Dary Mitchell's lack of runs is a concern and it has forced CSK to shuffle their batting order. Considering their bowling, the hosts had to toil hard against LSG, given the unexpectedly huge amount of dew at Chepauk that took their spinners out of the game and the visitors made full advantage of it during their 213-run chase.
While the CSK pacers managed to capture the four LSG wickets to fell, the spinners struggled to grip the ball, whereas the constant misfields did not help them either. A high-flying SRH, on the other hand, were brought to the ground by RCB when they suffered only their third defeat of the season at home by 35 runs on Thursday. However, it is unlikely to deter the SRH batters who would fancy their chances against an inconsistent CSK.
Against RCB, SRH's top and middle order failed collectively while chasing, forcing head coach Daniel Vettori to admit that the idea of going all out with the bat in the second innings might not be the right thing to do. There is unlikely to be any shuffling in the visiting batting order, but Aiden Markram might need to step up, having been dismissed in singles figures in the last two contests.
In bowling, senior seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar is the only one who could be at the receiving end, having managed to claim just a wicket in the last three fixtures. With the likes of Umran Malik, Fazalhaq Farooqi and Akash Singh waiting in the wings, SRH may think of given a chance, especially to the Jammu pacer, who has the ability to bowl above 150 kmph.
Given that SRH won four of their last five games this season while defending, they would love to bat first but both teams will also keep an eye on the unpredictable dew factor.
Squads
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Mitchell Santner, Tushar Deshpande, Matheesha Pathirana, Simarjeet Singh, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana, Shaik Rasheed, Nishant Sindhu, Ajay Mandal, Mukesh Choudhary, Rachin Ravindra, Shardul Thakur, Daryl Mitchell, Sameer Rizvi, Mustafizur Rahman and Avinash Rao Aravelly.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Aiden Markram, Abdul Samad, Nitish Reddy, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 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.
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