Published: May 01, 2015, 12:44 PM (IST)
Edited: May 01, 2015, 04:33 PM (IST)
A patchy Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) will take on table toppers Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium at Hyderabad in Match 34 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2015. This will be crucial game for the home side, as they are placed at fifth position with six points from seven games in the points table and cannot afford to lose many matches from here on. CSK, who lost their last game against Kolkata Knight Riders, surely will give them a tough challenge. MS Dhoni is doing good, feels Stephen Fleming
In this ongoing season of IPL, SRH have been criticised as a top heavy batting line up. Their lack of fire power in the middle order have cost them few games. Even during their last game against the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), while batting first, after 15 overs, SRH were well poised to score 170-180, but eventually they finished with 150. Though David Warner’s boys won the game, but this misfiring middle order is a matter of concern for them. SRH somehow have to accommodate Kane Williamson in their playing eleven to strengthen their batting.
In bowling, Trent Boult has been a revolution for them. His two over with the new ball will be very crucial in this game, especially against the likes of Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Smith, Suresh Raina. To beat CSK, you have to take early wickets and put pressure on them initially and Boult is the right man to do the job. Other bowlers like, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Praveen Kumar can be handy as well. But in the spin department, Karn Sharma’s form is a worry for the SRH team management. So they can try out Parvez Rasool for this game. Suresh Raina completes 3,500 runs in Indian Premier League
CSK on the other hand are a settled unit. Though Ravichandran Ashwin’s injury forced them to change their winning combination at Eden Gardens, but still this team is by far the strongest side of IPL. In this game, MS Dhoni’s boys would like bounce back after the defeat in their last game. Apart from their dynamic top order, CSK would be looking towards players like Faf du Plessis, Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja to come good with bat in this game. Even skipper Dhoni is also in search of a decent knock under his belt.
While in bowling, purple cap holder Ashish Nehra will be the spearhead. People like Mohit Sharma, Pawan Negi, Bravo would like to play the supporting role. Their only worry in bowling department is the inconsistent form of Jadeja. In this edition of IPL, his left-arm spin hasn’t been very effective so far. In the middle over, he is an important bowler form CSK. So Jadeja will be desperate to do well against SRH, who have a lot of right-handers in their middle order.
In terms of current form and team combinations, CSK will go into the game as favourites, but T20 is funny format and it won’t be surprising if SRH manage to pull this off in their first game at Hyderabad.
Squads:
Sunrisers Hyderabad:Â David Warner (c), ShikharDhawan, Dale Steyn, Karn Sharma, KL Rahul, Ishant Sharma, Trent Boult, Kane Williamson, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, NamanOjha, Praveen Kumar, SiddharthKaul, Ashish Reddy, ParvezRasool, MoisesHenriques, Ravi Bopara, Ricky Bhui, Chama Milind, Eoin Morgan, PrasanthPadmanabhan, Bipul Sharma, HanumaVihari.
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (c&wk), Michael Hussey, Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Smith, Faf du Plessis, Suresh Raina, Dwayne Bravo, IrfanPathan, RavindraJadeja, MithunManhas, PawanNegi, RavichandranAshwin, Samuel Badree, Mohit Sharma, IshwarPandey, Matt Henry, Rahul Sharma, Andrew Tye, AshishNehra, Pratyush Singh, AnkushBains, Ronit More, Baba Aparajith, EklavyaDwivedi, Kyle Abbott.
Time: 20.00 IST | 14:30 GMT
(Sandipan Banerjee is a reporter at CricketCountry. Cricket has been the biggest passion for him since his childhood. So, when it came to choosing his career, he chose to turn his passion into his profession. Apart from cricket he likes mountain trekking, river rafting, and photography. His twitter handle is @im_sandipan)
