In Match number 29 of IPL 2020, SunRisers Hyderabad will clash with Chennai Super Kings later today at the Dubai International Stadium.
Both teams have already played each other in this edition, where SRH was victorious by a narrow margin of 7 runs.
Since then, CSK have waned further due to some dismal batting performances and currently sit at a lowly seventh spot in the points table – with a disappointing five losses from their seven games.
While their bowling has done well to restrict the opposition, their batting lineup has let them down big time with only Fad du Plessis being a notable exception.
The firepower in their ranks has disappointed so far with the likes of Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja, Kedar Jadhav and captain cool MS Dhoni himself being utter failures with the bat.
None of their fans expected such drab performances from the three time IPL champions. It looks like age has finally caught up with these gallant titans of the game – CSK has the highest average age amongst all the franchises.
SRH too have been mediocre at best with the bat so far but have still fared better than CSK. They occupy the fifth spot in the points table with three wins and four losses.
The side led by their charismatic skipper David Warner would be dejected after losing out their last game against Rajasthan Royals from a winning position. Rahul Tewatia and Riyan Parag completed a dramatic turnaround for Rajasthan and took them to a 5-wicket victory.
SRH have blown hot and cold so far in the competition. They were handed huge blows early on in the tournament – first they lost their star all-rounder Mitchell March in just their opening fixture after which pace spearhead Bhuvneshwar Kumar was ruled out of the tournament with a thigh injury.
SRH are desperately lacking a big-hitter at the death with the entire responsibility for the same falling on the shoulders of Kane Williamson. While Williamson has done well so far, he has lacked support from the other end to give SRH the much needed fireworks in the final overs.
They would perhaps be thinking about bringing in Jason Holder into the squad for the power-hitting role. Holder is also more than handy with the ball and has the ability to move the ball.
SRH can still draw satisfaction from their bowling department – led by the wily Rashid Khan, they are capable of defending any total. They have successfully defended sub-par scores of 164 and 162 already in this edition. Natarajan has been a revelation with the ball in this edition while Khaleel Ahmed has also acted as an able deputy.
Thus, SRH with their strong bowling attack will start as favourites in this one against CSK – who have been inept with the bat so far.
SRH Squad: David Warner (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Basil Thampi, Billy Stanlake, Jonny Bairstow, Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Shreevats Goswami, Siddarth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, T Natarajan, Vijay Shankar, Wriddhiman Saha, Abdul Samad, Fabian Allen, Jason Holder, Priyam Garg, Sandeep Bavanaka, Sanjay Yadav, Virat Singh, Prithvi Raj Yarra
CSK Squad: MS Dhoni (captain), Shardul Thakur, KM Asif, Deepak Chahar, Imran Tahir, Karn Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, N Jagadeesan, Monu Kumar, Mitchell Santner, Ravindra Jadeja, Lungi Ngidi, Kedar Jadhav, Dwayne Bravo, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Murali Vijay, Faf du Plessis, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu and Shane Watson, Sam Curran, Piyush Chawla, Josh Hazlewood, R Sai Kishore
