Chennai Super Kings will face Sunrisers Hyderabad on Friday at M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in match 29 of this season’s Indian Premier League.
Even after starting the campaign with a loss, the Super Kings have given better performances in their recent matches. With the likes of Devon Conway, Ajinkya Rahane, and Shivam Dube, Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s side is relatively more dependent on the batting lineup than bowling. As a result, if they win the toss they will look forward to batting first.
The Sunrisers are in the second last spot, only above Delhi Capitals. They have a negative run rate because of their throbbing losses against Rajasthan Royals and Lucknow Super Giants in the initial two matches. Hence, with a win over Chennai Super Kings, they can ascend in the points table.
What have they done so far?
Chennai Super Kings played their first match of the season against defending champions Gujarat Titans. Ruturaj Gaikwad’s brilliant 92-run innings went into vain as Gujarat’s collective effort helped Hardik Pandya’s side win.
Lucknow Super Giants faced Chennai Super Kings in their second match. Moeen Ali’s spin dismissed the top order of the Super Giants which includes the likes of Kyle Mayers and KL Rahul. Following that, the Yellow Army captured their first victory of the season.
The Super Kings were quick to secure their second win as they defeated Mumbai Indians by 7 wickets with 11 balls remaining in the much-awaited derby. Ajinkya Rahane’s quickfire inning of 61 runs off just 27 balls made sure Super Kings go home with a couple of points.
However, Chennai’s second loss of the season came against their old rivals and current league leaders, Rajasthan Royals. The last-over thriller was triumphed by Sandeep Sharma as MS Dhoni failed to hit a boundary on the last ball.
In their most recent match, Devon Conway and Shivam Dube punished bowlers and gave Royal Challengers Bangalore a mammoth 227-run target. Glenn Maxwell and Faf du Plessis held the match after their side lost two quick wickets. However, they failed to win against the Super Kings.
Under a new skipper, Hyderabad got hammered by Rajasthan Royals in the first match. Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Sanju Samson’s half-centuries helped Royals post a target of 204 runs. Eventually, Aiden Markram’s men failed to chase the total and lost the match by 72 runs.
The second match also resulted in a loss for the Orange Army as Lucknow Super Giants won the match by 5 wickets with four overs remaining. However, Sunrisers finally got on the winning way against Punjab Kings.
Mayank Markande recorded his best performance in the Indian Premier League as he dismissed four batsmen giving just 15 runs. Punjab’s captain Shikhar Dhawan played a brilliant inning scoring 99 runs off 66 balls and helping his team reach 143. However, the score was easily chased down by the Sunrisers with the help of innings from Rahul Tripathi and Aiden Markram.
Harry Brook scored the first century of this season’s IPL and eventually, his top-class inning helped Hyderabad turn down the collective effort of Nitesh Rana and Rinku Singh for Kolkata Knight Riders and take home two points.
Sunrisers Hyderabad’s third loss of the season came against Mumbai Indians on Tuesday. The Orange Army’s batting line-up failed to stay compact and lost wickets in the chase. Only Heinrich Klaasen looked sharp following his 36-run innings in just 16 balls but that didn’t help the Orange Army succeed.
Head to Head Record
Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad have played against each other a total of 18 times in the history of the Indian Premier League. The Super Kings have recorded 13 wins while the Sunrisers have managed to win only five times.
Last season, the teams crossed paths twice. In their first meeting, Hyderabad triumphed over the four-time champions by 8 wickets while in their second meeting, Super Kings won by 13 runs.
Key Players
Ajinkya Rahane (Chennai Super Kings): During his time with Delhi Capitals, Rahane was deprived of regular batting chances. However, the opening batsman has made a triumphant return to the ground.
His 61-run innings against Mumbai Indians has been the highlight of this season yet. Hence, he can surely play a crucial role against Aiden Markram’s Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Harry Brook will play a major role in Sunriser Hyderabad’s batting as they’ll take on Chennai Super Kings
Harry Brook (Sunrisers Hyderabad): Harry Brook became the first centurion of IPL 2023 against Kolkata Knight Riders.
The Englishman hasn’t got enough chances in the top league to show what he has got but his recent displays show promise that he’s most likely to shine.
Predicted XIs
Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Ajinkya Rahane, Shivam Dube, Ambati Rayudu, Moeen Ali, Mahendra Singh Dhoni ©, Ravindra Jadeja, Matheesha Pathirana, Maheesh Theekshana, Tushar Deshpande
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Harry Brook, Mayank Agarwal, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram ©, Abhishek Sharma, Heinrich Klaasen, Marco Jensen, Mayank Markande, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Thangarasu Natarajan, Umran Malik
Prediction
It’s fair to say that Chennai Super Kings have a really strong batting line-up, however, their team faces troubles in bowling. On the other side, Sunrisers Hyderabad has a decent bowling attack. If Hyderabad manages to stop Super Kings for a low score, then they can walk out victorious. However, a huge total will be really difficult for Aiden Markram’s side to chase.