Tata IPL 2023, CSK vs SRH Preview: Hyderabad hope to breach Chennai's fortress

Chennai: Chepauk is a fortress where Chennai Super Kings are near impossible to beat. At home CSK have won 19 of their last 23 games. And Sunrisers Hyderabad are one of the many who haven’t been able to breach this fortress. In their three matches against CSK in Chennai, SRH have fallen short on each occasion.

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The nature of the track has been what you would expect: assist for the spinners. They’ve taken 16 wickets at the venue this season while seamers have taken 11 wickets.

Of the two matches CSK have played at home this season, they’ve won one and lost one. Royals, boasting a trio of R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal and Adam Zampa, earned themselves a slender 3 run win, for their first two points in Chennai since 2008.

Sunrisers Hyderabad, unfortunately, don’t have the same depth in the spin bowling department as Royals do. The Aiden Markram-led side have persisted with a wicket-less Washington Sundar and Mayank Markande, while keeping Adil Rashid and Akeal Hossein on the bench.

With that in mind, SRH can counter the spin threat with the likes Mayank Agarwal, Rahul Tripathi, Abhishek Sharma and Markram.

On the other end, Chennai Super Kings have been in great nick with the bat. They’ve breached the 200 run mark twice this season and Devon Conway had alluded to targeting a strike rate of 200-plus.

For CSK, the focus will be on hoping Ruturaj Gaikwad getting back amongst the runs. He had started well but failed to make a mark in the previous two matches.

CSK will also pin their hopes on Ben Stokes’ return. The all-rounder, who was suffering from a toe injury and missed three IPL matches, took part in the nets on Wednesday and is available for selection.

In the middle order, Ajinkya Rahane has been a revelation, batting with a lot of freedom and going after opposition bowlers, but in an orthodox manner.

For Chennai, the issues have been with an inconsistent bowling attack. Matheesha Pathirana performed admirably against Royal Challengers Bangalore but the same cannot be said of the others, though Tushar Deshpande has got better with each game.

Form

Sunrisers Hyderabad began their IPL 2023 campaign with two losses but followed it up with consecutive wins. However, that momentum was arrested, at home, against Mumbai Indians to make it three defeats in five matches.

Chennai Super Kings are third in the points table with three wins out of five played. MS Dhoni-captained CSK have been unable to put two wins together and come into it on the back of a 8-run win over Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Head-to-head

CSK and SRH have played each other 18 times with Chennai winning 13 and five matches going Hyderabad’s way. In the last five matches, Chennai have won four against Hyderabad.

Squads:

Chennai Super Kings Squad: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Ajinkya Rahane, Shivam Dube, Ambati Rayudu, Moeen Ali, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni(w/c), Maheesh Theekshana, Tushar Deshpande, Matheesha Pathirana, Akash Singh, Dwaine Pretorius, Subhranshu Senapati, Shaik Rasheed, RS Hangargekar, Mitchell Santner, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Simarjeet Singh, Prashant Solanki, Bhagath Varma, Nishant Sindhu

Sunrisers Hyderabad Squad: Harry Brook, Mayank Agarwal, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram(c), Abhishek Sharma, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Abdul Samad, Marco Jansen, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, T Natarajan, Washington Sundar, Vivrant Sharma, Umran Malik, Mayank Dagar, Akeal Hosein, Glenn Phillips, Adil Rashid, Samarth Vyas, Anmolpreet Singh, Upendra Yadav, Kartik Tyagi, Sanvir Singh, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Nitish Reddy

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