Published: Apr 27, 2014, 12:34 AM (IST)
Edited: Apr 27, 2014, 12:36 AM (IST)
By Nishad Pai Vaidya
Apr 26, 2014
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) clash at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in the Indian Premier League (IPL), 2014. Chennai are now in their zone, one where they seem strong and tough to dislodge. But then, Hyderabad bounced back in the last game with a victory over Delhi Daredevils and would have that air of confidence going into the game. Considering the batting firepower on both sides, this should be a good game.
The Sharjah Cricket Stadium has a good batting surface and batsmen from both sides would be licking their lips. Winning the toss and choosing to bat is actually a no brainer and should turn out to be a good decision under lights. However, chasing isn’t tough task either and it isn’t something that the team batting second would fret over.
Hyderabad finally found form and it is important to note that Shikhar Dhawan, David Warner and Aaron Finch were amongst the runs. These three are the key batsmen although Hyderabad are top heavy. At the same time, Hyderabad have done well to bring in Naman Ojha, who not only dons the gloves but also can bat lower down the order. KL Rahul and Venugopal Rao form the middle order with him.
Hyderabad have a good bowling attack with Dale Steyn and Bhuvneshwar Kumar upfront. Amit Mishra and Karn Sharma form the spin bowling attack and they have Darren Sammy who backs them. With this depth in the bowling, they can leave out the unimpressive Ishant Sharma and Irfan Pathan.
Chennai have a good opening combination in Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith, who pose a threat to any line-up on their day. But, it is a complete line-up with Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni, Faf Du Plessis coming in. The lower order also has some punch in Mithun Manhas and Ravindra Jadeja. The bowling seemed to be a little weak for Chennai but Ishwar Pandey has been a good addition. And to top it all, even Mohit Sharma has bowled himself into good form.
Ben Hilfenhaus leads the fast bowling attack, but a lot does depend on Ravichandran Ashwin and Jadeja. They will be tested by the Hyderabad top order that has a lot of power in it.
To predict a winner isn’t easy, but Chennai may be the stronger side on the day given the better track record and a well oiled setup.
Squads:
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Shikhar Dhawan (c), Dale Steyn, David Warner, Darren Sammy, Amit Mishra, Aaron Finch, Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Brendan Taylor, Moises Henriques, Venugopala Rao, Jason Holder, S Aniruddha, Manprit Juneja, KL Rahul, Amit Paunikar, Naman Ojha, Ricky Bhui, Ashish Reddy, Chama Milind, Parveez Rasool, Prashanth Parameshwaran, Karn Sharma.
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (c & wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina, Francois du Plessis, Dwayne Smith, Brendon McCullum, Ashish Nehra, Mohit Sharma, Ishwar Pandey, Ben Hilfenhaus, John Hastings, Samuel Badree, Matt Henry, Mithun Manhas, Vijay Shankar, Ronit More, Baba Aparajith, Pawan Negi.
Time: 14:30 local | 16:00 IST
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(Nishad Pai Vaidya is a Correspondent with CricketCountry and anchor for the site’s YouTube Channel. His Twitter handle is @nishad_44)
