CSK v SRH: IPL MATCH 46 PREVIEW

If the Super Kings win all their remaining games, they atleast have a decent chance of qualifying for the playoffs. A vintage MS Dhoni finsih helped them gain another 2 points in the game against their arch rivals Mumbai Indians but probably left it little too late for him against PBKS. What changed for CSK is their bowling in PP. In the 1st 4 games, they had picked up just 1 wkt in the PP. In the last 4 games, they have picked up 11 wkts courtesy Theekshana and Choudhary who have picked majority of the wkts. It would be interesting to see if CSK bring back Moeen in the 11 or persist with Santner. CSK had announced a major change yesterday, that is, Dhoni is back as the skipper. It will be interesting to see whether this changes the fortunes of the side, who are on the verge of elimination.

It won't be wrong to say SRH are by far the best bowling unit in this tournamnet. SRH's management should be lauded for having faith in Bhuvi and Natarajan during auctions given their injury concerns and form in last 18 months. T Natarajan has led from the front with 15 wkts, Fast bowling sensation Umran Malik has 15 wkts after a shaky start to the season. Suchit had filled in for Sundar in his absence. Jansen ran through RCB's and KKR's top order in back to back games and Bhuvi has scalped 9 wkts at an eco of 7.5. SRH are the best bowling unit in death overs with 21 wkts at an avg of 14.5. They had a rare bad day at the office against GT but who has succeded against the wrath of Miller, Tewatia & Rashid. Coming to the batting department, SRH are the 2nd worst performers along with CSK in PP with a scoring rate of 6.81. Kane Williamson has been a major let down and hasn't contributed at all apart from a 50 against GT

Probable XI

Chennai Super Kings

Ruturaj Gaikwad, Robin Uthappa, Ambati Rayudu, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja (c), MS Dhoni (wk), Moeen Ali/Santner, Dwayne Bravo, Dwaine Pretorious, Mahesh Theekshana, Mukesh Chaudhary

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Kane Williamson (c), Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Nicholas Pooran, Aiden Markram, Shashank Singh, Washington Sundar, Marco Jansen, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Umran Malik, T Natarajan

Venue

MCA Stadium, Pune

-Average 1st innings total : 168.9
- Average 1st innings total in 2022: 169.6
-Average 1st innings winning total: 181.7

-Highest total: 211/4 - CSK vs DC
-Lowest total: 73 - PBKS vs RPSG

-Teams batting 1st: Have won 22 matches
-Teams batting 2nd: Have won 24 matches

Record at MCA Stadium

CSK: Played 9, Won -6, Lost -3
SRH: Played 4, Won -1, Lost -3

Head to Head

Overall: CSK leads by 13 - 5
Batting 1st: CSK leads by 5-2
Batting 2nd: CSK leads by 8-3
Last 5 matches: CSK leads by 3-2

Match Ups

Dhoni vs Bhuvi: 94/0 at 165 sr
Rayudu vs Bhuvi: 84/2 at 121 sr
Uthappa vs Bhuvi: 86/1 at 108 sr
Jadeja vs Bhuvi: 54/1 at 135 sr

Williamson vs Bravo: 52/2 at 148 sr
Tripathi vs Bravo: 29/2 at 170 sr

Williamson vs Jadeja: 90/1 at 126 sr
Tripathi vs Jadeja: 20/2 at 100 sr

Uthappa vs Sundar: 49/1 at 181 sr
Rayudu vs Sundar: 36/2 at 124 sr

Dhoni vs Natarajan: 19/1 at 190 sr
Jadeja vs Natarajan: 41/1 at 205 sr

Form Update
(last 5 innings)

Key Players & Fantasy Picks

Captain & Vice Captain

Maheesh Theekshana: He has played just 5 games so far and already has 5 wickets in Powerplay for CSK. His last 3 outings before the game against PBKS were really successful where he picked 7 wickets including a 4-fer against RCB.

Rahul Tripathi: Tripathi burst onto the scene in 2017 while opening for Rising Pune Supergiant. He racked up 391 runs at an impressive strike rate of 146. He had a a couple of off seasons with RR but was back at his best in KKR. Donning a new role, Tripathi batted in middle order and amassed 397 runs at a SR of 140. No wonder he fetched 8.5 crores in the auctions as he possesses the unique ability to attack from ball one.He was the top scorer in the 2nd game with a 30 ball 44 and hit a 15 ball 39 against Chennai, followed it up with a 37 ball 71 while chasing against KKR, a 22 ball 34 vs PBKS in the last game. Tripathi has the 5th best SR (150.1) since 2021 for batters with minimum of 450 runs

Aiden Markram: In the past one year, Markram has scored 570 runs for SA at a SR of 148. He had a very good outing in t20 wc and was featured in ICC's team of the tournament. Markram is also a useful part time off spinner and does the job well in Powerplay. He was the top scorer for SRH in the 1st game and scored a 50, registered his 2nd one in the game against KKR. and remained not out on 41 against PBKS and again scored a 50 v GT. He is the only middle order batter along with Surya to have 4 scores of 40+

Budget Pick (Fanatsy rating -8/8.5 points)

Ruturaj Gaikwad: The orange cap winner of 2021 has had a outing to forget this season. He did show good signs against GT during his knock of 73. Today could well be his day.

Wild Card

Umran Malik: The pace sensation from Jammu now has a 4wkt and a 5 wkt haul in this season and is improving day by day. Today might be another day where SRH will use him as an enforcer in the middle overs.

Prediction: CSK to win & Ruturaj will post a good score

Fanatsy XI