Big picture
This Chennai Super Kings team - who are one win away from a place in the playoffs - function at a very high level due to a stable first XI with clear role definitions.
Faf du Plessis is aggressive. And when he takes care of the run-rate, Ruturaj Gaikwad can just play at his best.
Moeen Ali and Ambati Rayudu are perfect as No 3 and 4 due to their natural ability to attack spin bowling. It is thanks to his efforts that the Super Kings have been the fastest scoring team (9.05) in the middle overs (7-16) of this season.
Next comes Ravindra Jadeja, whose batting and finishing abilities have shot through the roof, so much so that he is basically taking on MS Dhoni, which is fair enough as MS Dhoni has led this team over the years. Driven till.
There. That's the plan. And it never changes.
Sunrisers Hyderabad, on the other hand, started the season with a captain they no longer want in the XI, their middle order so brittle that it limits the way their top order plays and lacks a recognized finisher. Which means there's always a chance for things. Going Wrong at the Right Time You Want Everything to Be Right - Death Over. Due to this disorder, they are at the last position in the points table. Tomorrow's defeat will put them out of the race for the playoffs.
In the news
Looks like David Warner's time with Sunrisers is about to end. He was not even on the field for the last game he played and then suggested on social media that this could be the new status quo. Head coach Trevor Bayliss did nothing to quash that suggestion, saying instead that he wanted his young players to experience what it was like on the field amidst all the action.
Likely XIs
- Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1 Jason Roy, 2 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Priyam Garg, 5 Abhishek Sharma, 6 Jason Holder, 7 Abdul Samad, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Siddharth Kaul, 11 Sandeep Sharma
- Chennai Super Kings: 1 Faf du Plessis, 2 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 3 Moeen Ali, 4 Ambati Rayudu, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Sam Curran/Dwayne Bravo, 9 Shardul Thakur, 10 Deepak Chahar, 11 Josh Hazlewood/Imran Tahir
Strategy punt
- If there is one team against which Dhoni can finish the way he used to, it is Sunrisers. He is destructive against their death bowlers with Bhuvneshwar Kumar's 81 off 46 balls and Siddharth Kaul's 45 off 25 balls. But that plan only works - and it's a big deal if - CSK can block their Thala from facing Rashid Khan because he's not handsome in the face-off: 23 runs off 32 balls, one out.
- Kane Williamson loves to play against Super Kings. See how he holds up against all his best bowlers: 50 off 29 balls against Dwayne Bravo; Once out, 49 out of 35 against Jadeja; never got out, 57 off 38 against Shardul Thakur; He was dismissed twice against Deepak Chahar and scored 58 runs in 44; never rejected. Williamson's batting during the innings could prove to be important once again for Sunrisers.
Stats that matter
- Last IPL, over the course of 12 matches, the average first innings score in Sharjah was 178. But this season, thanks to a relayed pitch that is much slower and less conducive to shot making, the average first innings score is only 136.
- A measure of how incredible Jadeja has been with the bat in recent seasons. Since IPL 2020, he is one of only three players to score at least 400 runs and average over 50. The others are KL Rahul and Williamson.
- Rashid finds playing against Super Kings a little tougher than usual. His average of 27.6 - his worst of all teams - and almost every over (33 in 36) - is once again his worst score among all teams.