Just a week after Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Chennai Super Kings by six wickets, the two teams meet again in the 2019 Indian Premier League (IPL) on Tuesday, this time at the home ground of the defending champions.
That win helped Sunrisers arrest their alarming slide of three defeats on the trot to reaffirm their play-off credentials. It also was the first victory for Hyderabad over Chennai in five meetings.
WARNER, BAIRSTOW KEY TO SRH’S RESURGENCE
Since beating Chennai at Hyderabad, Sunrisers have gone on to add another win to their tally following a nine-wicket demolition of Kolkata Knight Riders. Both wins were based on the solid foundation provided by openers David Warner and Jonny Bairstow who have been the most formidable opening partnership in the 2019 IPL campaign by some distance.
There's no stopping @SunRisers opener @davidwarner31 in #IPL2019 💪 pic.twitter.com/dcCyjhOAIC
— Sport360° (@Sport360) April 21, 2019
The two batsmen have already added a staggering 786 runs between them in nine outings so far this year with their partnership being the cornerstone of several Hyderabad wins. Warner has been nothing short of sensational on his IPL return with the Aussie left-hander registering one ton and six half-centuries in his nine innings while Bairstow hasn’t been too far behind with a century and two fifties to his name already.
Hyderabad already have one of the best bowling units in the IPL at their disposal but they become even a more difficult side to beat when their openers get going.
CSK LOSING THEIR MOJO
While Hyderabad have added one more win to their kitty since beating Chennai, MS Dhoni’s men have faced another setback in the form of a one-run loss to bottom-placed Royal Challengers Bangalore.
CSK looked down and out in the clash before Dhoni’s unbeaten 48-ball 84 nearly took them across the finish line before eventually suffering a heartbreak off the final delivery of the match.
The great man almost pulled off another miracle, and during his 84* (48) in which he smashed 7 maximums, @msdhoni went past 200 sixes in #VIVOIPL #RCBvCSK pic.twitter.com/sL91jc1ZoT
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 21, 2019
That loss, coupled with the one against Hyderabad, has taken some sheen of Chennai’s impressive run in the first-half of the campaign where they had emerged as the runaway leaders. Dhoni’s men still remain top of the pile despite the back-to-back defeats but the likes of Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals are now hot on their heels.
Momentum before the play-off battle eventually arrives will be crucial for all teams and CSK will want to get their campaign back on track as soon as possible. The loss against Bangalore completed a long stretch on the road for Dhoni and his men and they will enjoy playing at home.
TEAM NEWS
Chennai are still sweating over the fitness of veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh who has now missed the side’s four most recent outings due to a stiff neck.
LIKELY XIs
Chennai Super Kings: Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (c and wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Imran Tahir.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Kane Williamson (c), Vijay Shankar, Yusuf Pathan, Deepak Hooda, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Khaleel Ahmed
