The table toppers – Chennai Super Kings – will face bottom placed Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Thursday. While, Hyderabad are virtually knocked out of IPL 2021 with eight losses in 10 games, they can very well play party poopers for MS Dhoni’s Chennai who look to seal a spot in the playoffs with one eye on finishing in the top two rungs.
The Sunrisers Hyderabad come to Sharjah with a win. Riding on skipper Kane Williamson’s unbeaten half-century and Jason Roy’s 42-ball 60, the 2016 champions defeated Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets. However, it was former captain David Warner’s non-inclusion that made news. The Australian opener has scored 181 runs at an average of 24.37 in this season so far. Warner also hinted at not being a part of the Orange army in the next season.
Bowling-wise, the trio of Siddarth Kaul, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jason Holder had managed to restrict Rajasthan’s high flying innings to 165 runs.
“We can say the performance was improved. There was clarity in roles to, want to build on this, want to see the younger players take their opportunity and enjoy the cricket,” Williamson had said after their seven-wicket win.
On the match against table toppers CSK, Williamson said, “It’s a new venue, and CSK, top of the table, tough to beat. But as we know every team in this tournament is good. Hopefully we can play with a smile on our faces.”
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The MS Dhoni-led side on the other hand are coming on the back of a hat-trick of wins and have virtually sealed their playoff chances. In a close game, CSK all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja justified his selection by playing an eight-ball 22 run cameo, facilitating 26 runs off 12 balls.
For Chennai, it is Faf du Plessis and Ruturaj Gaikwad’s chemistry at the top that has worked. Moeen Ali, Suresh Raina and Ambati Rayudu form the core of their batting.
The bowling department may look to be their weak link as it remains to be seen if Hyderabad is able to capitalise on it.
West Indian star all-rounder Dwayne Bravo was rested against Kolkata as it would be no surprise if he returns to the side in place of Sam Curran who leaked 56 runs from his four overs against KKR.
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Teams:
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Kane Williamson (C), David Warner, Manish Pandey, Sherfane Rutherford, Wriddhiman Saha, Shreevats Goswami, Rashid Khan, Vijay Shankar, Mohammad Nabi, Abhishek Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddharth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, Urman Malik, Basil Thampi, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Abdul Samad, J Suchith, Jason Holder, Virat Singh, Priyam Garg, Kedar Jadhav, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, Jason Roy.
Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C), Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, KM Asif, Deepak Chahar, Dwayne Bravo, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, N Jagadeesan, Karn Sharma, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Santner, Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shardul Thakur, Sam Curran, R Sai Kishore, Moeen Ali, K Gowtham, Cheteshwar Pujara, Harishankar Reddy, Bhagath Varma, C Hari Nishaanth.
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SRH vs CSK Match Details
Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Chennai Super Kings, 44th Match
Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021
Date – 30 September 2021
Time: 07:30 PM IST
Venue: Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah
