Sunrisers Hyderabad face Chennai Super Kings in a return fixture in match 29 of IPL 2020 in Dubai on Tuesday, October 13. Sunrisers beat the Super Kings in the first encounter between the two teams played in Dubai as well. Since then the season has gone ahead differently for the two teams.
While Hyderabad has lost four matches, Chennai rather surprisingly has lost five. Chennai is placed seventh in the points table at the moment, while Hyderabad is placed fifth.
Sunrisers Hyderabad lost their previous game against Rajasthan Royals last Sunday. They had the game under their control for the better part of the game, but the Tewatia-Parag stand of unbeaten 85, took the game away from them in the last seven overs. They failed to counter the counter-attacking partnership of the duo as the game slipped away from death.
Death bowling is surely a concern after the game that the SRH management would look into. With Bhuvneshwar Kumar missing, they thought either of Natarajan or Khaleel would shoulder the responsibility, however, both went for runs against Rajasthan. In terms of options, they have Siddharth Kaul and Basil Thampi because dropping Rashid Khan is not an option they can afford to take.
Batting wise both Jonny Bairstow and skipper David Warner would like to bring more consistency into their opening partnership. Barring their record stand against Kings XI Punjab, the powerful openers have not fired in unison in the rest of the games.
Middle-Order Concerns For Both Teams
In the middle-order, both Kane Williamson and Manish Pandey have come up with important contributions for the team, while Priyam Garg and Abhishek Sharma have shown their maturity as well. It’s all about playing together as a unit for the Men in Orange and winning the key moments of the game.
Meanwhile, Chennai Super Kings have far more complicated problems to look into. They have chased successfully just once out of the five times the six times they have batted second. The lack of intensity in the middle-order to do the job for the team has been a consistent debate throughout the competition so far.
With all of them ageing well above their 30’s running between the wickets is another area that they have been found wanting. MS Dhoni’s ideal batting position and lack of proper utilisation of the available resources is another of their major concerns.
Ideally, every game is a must-win for the Men in Yellow with seven more games to go for them. In the process, they will be facing Delhi Capitals, RCB and KKR all of whom have beaten the side in their respective previous matches against CSK. It will be interesting to see the approach of the team in the remaining seven matches.
Head to Head- Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Chennai Super Kings
Out of the 13 games played between the teams so far, CSK have won nine while SRH four. Sunrisers beat Chennai Super Kings by seven runs in the previous match between the two teams in Dubai earlier this season.
Weather & Pitch Conditions
With the tournament getting into its second phase, the pitches at all three venues are becoming slower. Scores between 160 to 170 are proving to be match-winning ones. Hyderabad defended 164 in their last game against Chennai in Dubai. They will fancy doing the same once again.
Also Read: 5 Cricketers Who Have Married In Same Gender
Team News
Despite losing their last match against the Royals, Sunrisers would like to field the same XI given that it is their most balanced squad in the absence of Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
CSK needs to do some rethinking regarding fine-tuning their XI ahead of the game, especially after Ambati Rayudu and Jagadeeshan cost them the match against RCB. Jagadeeshan was Kedar Jadhav’s replacement in the previous game.
Squads
Sunrisers Hyderabad
David Warner (c), Jonny Bairstow (wk), Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Abdul Samad, Abhishek Sharma, Priyam Garg, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, K Khaleel Ahmed, T Natarajan, Wriddhiman Saha, Shreevats Goswami, Siddarth Kaul, Mohammad Nabi, Shahbaz Nadeem, Vijay Shankar, Jason Holder, Sandeep Sharma, Bavanaka Sandeep, Billy Stanlake, Fabian Allen, Virat Singh, Basil Thampi, Sanjay Yadav
Chennai Super Kings
Ambati Rayudu, Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Sam Curran, Piyush Chawla, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Murali Vijay, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Josh Hazlewood, Karn Sharma, Imran Tahir, Lungi Ngidi, Monu Kumar, Mitchell Santner, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, N Jagadeesan, KM Asif
Also Read: Match 29- Chennai Super Kings vs Sunrisers Hyderabad – Fantasy Tips