The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Thursday. It will be their first meeting in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2013.
Overview:
It will be a match between the second-placed CSK and third-placed SRH. Both have 10 points each on the table and are separated only by net run rate. Thursday's match will be a sort of CSK's batsmen vs SRH's bowlers.
CSK have 10 points on the table after winning five of the seven matches played so far. The two-time champions won the last three matches, which will boost their confidence. However, their performances in the earlier seasons were better than this season. They lost two of the four games played at home which will worry them.
SRH may not have explosive batsmen like other teams but they are a formidable team, silently climbing the ladders. They have 10 points on the table after winning five of the seven matches played so far. They will take on CSK after winning two consecutive matches and will expect their bowlers to break through the batting line-up of their opponent.
Previous Meetings:
CSK and SRH will play against each other for the first time in IPL. However, CSK met the erstwhile Hyderabad franchise, Deccan Chargers 10 times in the past and won on six occasions.
Team News:
Chennai Super Kings: They chased down Rajasthan Royals' score of 185 in the previous match, thanks to Michael Hussey's knock of 88 from 51 balls and Suresh Raina's half century. They also have batsmen like MS Dhoni, Murali Vijay, Subramaniam Badrinath and Ravindra Jadeja in the line-up inconsistency in their performances will worry their think tank. Winning last three matches in a row will boost their confidence.
On the bowling front, they have Dirk Nannes, Ankit Rajpoot, Chris Morris, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo and Mohit Sharma but their performances haven't been impressive so far, taking just four wickets in the previous match.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: They are on top half of the table but the inconsistency of their batsmen is a worrying factor. They have Kumar Sangakkara, Parthiv Patel, Cameron White, Quinton De Kock, Biplab Samantray and Hanuma Vihari in the batting line-up but struggled to chase Delhi Daredevils' low total of 114 in the previous match. They need to put up their act together.
The strength of SRH is certainly their bowling department. They have Dale Steyn, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra and Thisara Perera who are capable of taking wickets and defend low totals. They have restricted their opponents to below 120 runs in a couple matches this season, and they will be expected to repeat on Thursday.
Prediction:
CSK's record at home ground may not be very good this season but they are favourites to win against SRH on Thursday.
SQUADS:
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (C), Albie Morkel, Srikkanth Anirudha, Ankit Rajpoot, Baba Aparajith, Ben Hilfenhaus, Ben Laughlin, Chris Morris, Dirk Nannes, Dwayne Bravo, Francois du Plessis, Imtiyaz Ahmed, Jason Holder, Michael Hussey, Mohit Sharma, Murali Vijay, Nuwan Kulasekara, R Karthikeyan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Ronit More, Shadab Jakati, Subramaniam Badrinath, Suresh Raina, Vijay Shankar, Wriddhiman Saha
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Kumar Sangakkara (C), Akshath Reddy, Amit Mishra, Anand Rajan, Ankit Sharma, Ashish Reddy, Biplap Samantray, Cameron White, Chris Lynn, Dale Steyn, Darren Sammy, Dwaraka Ravi Teja, Hanuma Vihari, Ishant Sharma, Karan Sharma, Nathan McCullum, Parthiv Patel, Prasanth Padmanabhan, Quinton de Kock, Sachin Rana, Shikhar Dhawan, Sudeep Tyagi, Thalaivan Sargunam, Thisara Perera, Veer Pratap Singh
Where to watch Live
The match will begin at 8:00 pm IST and will be telecast live on Sony Set Max channel.
