Dubai: Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and decided to bat against David Warner-led Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the 29th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at Dubai International Cricket Stadium here on Tuesday.
Dhoni has opted to bat for the first time in the tournament and would be hoping for an upturn in Chennai's fortunes. There is one change in the side with Piyush Chawla coming in for Narayan Jagadeesan.
On the other hand, David Warner who seems to be “enjoying” his captaincy has made one change in the team with the inclusion of Shahbaz Nadeem for Abhishek Sharma.
While the CSK squad have looked clueless in the tournament so far, with their key players unable to take the team aground, the Hyderabadi team have had a topsy-turvy ride in the extravagant league.
If numbers are anything to go by, both the teams will be desperate to register good performances today. With two wins in seven matches, the CSK team have been placed seventh in the points table whereas SRH are at fifth spot, registering three wins in as many matches.
Overall, the two teams have cross swords 13 times in the tournament where CSK won the battle nine times whereas SRH have four victories to their name. But the Chennai-based franchise will face tall order against Hyderabad on a deck that will be sluggish, slow and the ground's circumference slightly on the bigger side.
Riding on Priyam Garg's innings and Rashid Khan's economical bowling, the Hyderabad-based franchise had smoked CSK in their last encounter by seven runs in Dubai on October 2. The match could turn into a see-saw battle unlike the lopsided ones witnessed thus far in the IPL.
MS Dhoni: We're batting first. Yes, for a change. Last few games we wanted to bat first, but never got the opportunity. The thing with stats is that you can get it any way you want to. It's a process and it's quicker if the guys buy into it, and follow the process. As I said, each game will have new problems. Today it will be about how we counter the shorter boundary one on side. Cricket is very close to life and it doesn't always go the way you want. It teaches you what you want to follow as a process. 2010 ended on a happy note but we can't just rely on that. One change - Chawla in for Jagadeesan. We thought about him (Tahir) but the combination isn't letting us.
IPL 2020: CSK win toss, decide to bat against SRH Yes, that's probably how everybody is going around these days. Interested to see how the wicket is going to play. There is a bigger boundary on one side and need to make the batters play there. The easiest thing to do is to forget about it (the previous loss). I'm really enjoying it (captaincy) and having Kane also helps. Really enjoying the group that we have. One change - Nadeem in for Abhishek Sharma
Teams:
Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Piyush Chawla, Shardul Thakur, Karn Sharma
Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): David Warner(c), Jonny Bairstow(w), Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Priyam Garg, Vijay Shankar, Shahbaz Nadeem, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed, T Natarajan
