“We’re still hopeful of winning 6 out of 6,” CSK head coach Stephen Fleming said on the eve of the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad. “And some will giggle at that, but RCB set a blueprint for that the year before.”
With only two wins in eight games, CSK have put themselves in a must-win territory, a situation they rarely find themselves in, in the IPL. Their opponents Sunrisers Hyderabad are drowning in the same boat, with similar win and loss column.
The number of points, a poor NRR and the same number of wins and losses is not the only thing which is common between these two teams, but also the batting struggles. The batters have failed to deliver as a unit and both of these sides are staring at the exit doors of the tournament.
CSK suffered a nine-wicket loss in their previous match against Mumbai Indians whereas SRH suffered a seven-wicket loss against the same team.
Meanwhile, Ayush Mhatre made an impressive debut and the youngster would look to grab his chance with both hands as he got off to a promising start.
Head to Head: CSK 15 – 6 SRH
SRH Probable XII: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Aniket Verma, Pat Cummins (c), Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat, Zeeshan Ansari, Eshan Malinga, Rahul Chahar
CSK Probable XII: Shaik Rasheed, Rachin Ravindra/Vansh Bedi, Ayush Mhatre, Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Vijay Shankar/Sam Curran, Jamie Overton, MS Dhoni (c, wk), Noor Ahmad, Khaleel Ahmed, Matheesha Pathirana, R Ashwin
Chennai Super Kings Squad: Shaik Rasheed, Rachin Ravindra, Ayush Mhatre, Vijay Shankar, Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, MS Dhoni(w/c), Jamie Overton, Noor Ahmad, Khaleel Ahmed, Matheesha Pathirana, Ravichandran Ashwin, Anshul Kamboj, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Sam Curran, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Rahul Tripathi, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Gopal, Devon Conway, Mukesh Choudhary, Nathan Ellis, Dewald Brevis, Andre Siddarth C, Vansh Bedi
Sunrisers Hyderabad Squad: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Aniket Verma, Pat Cummins(c), Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat, Zeeshan Ansari, Eshan Malinga, Abhinav Manohar, Mohammed Shami, Rahul Chahar, Sachin Baby, Wiaan Mulder, Kamindu Mendis, Atharva Taide, Simarjeet Singh, Smaran Ravichandran
