Sunrisers and Super Kings meet for the first time this season with both sides chasing momentum
Two struggling sides walk into the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Saturday evening with the same record and the same problem. Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings have both won twice and lost three times from their opening five matches, and neither has looked like the side fans expected at the start of the season.
For SRH the pattern is familiar but worrying. Pat Cummins has been absent with a back injury, the bowling unit has looked light without him, and even with Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma at the top, the totals have not been hitting the heights of the chases that defined their run to the 2024 final. Heinrich Klaasen has been doing what Klaasen does in the middle order, but the support around him from Ishan Kishan and Aniket Verma has been patchy.
CSK arrive in better spirits
Chennai travel to Hyderabad off the back of a 32-run win over KKR at Chepauk on Tuesday. Noor Ahmad picked up three wickets, Dewald Brevis chipped in with the bat, and the side that had looked dead in the water through the first three games suddenly has back-to-back wins for the first time in two seasons. Ruturaj Gaikwad has settled into the captaincy and the Sanju Samson trade has done what CSK hoped it would, with Samson keeping wicket and adding a top-order spark the side lacked last year.
The big question of the night is one Chennai have answered, and not in the way fans were hoping. MS Dhoni has travelled with the squad to Hyderabad, the first time he has joined CSK on the road this season, but he is not in the XI. The calf strain that has kept him out of the opening five matches is improving and the latest indication from the CSK camp is that he is now targeting the April 23 trip to Wankhede against Mumbai Indians for his comeback. Saturday will be another night of Sanju Samson with the gloves.
Hinge gives SRH a new weapon
For the home side the team news is more straightforward. Praful Hinge, who took three wickets in his very first over on debut against Rajasthan five days ago, retains his place in the XI alongside fellow debutant Sakib Hussain. Salil Arora and Harsh Dubey provide spin and seam options behind Eshan Malinga.
Stephen Fleming will go in with a settled side. Sarfaraz Khan and Shivam Dube give the middle order ballast, Ayush Mhatre adds youth at the top, and the bowling combination of Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, Matt Henry and Khaleel Ahmed has the variety to trouble Klaasen and company on a Hyderabad surface that has historically been kind to spin. Whoever wins the toss is likely to bowl first under lights. Chasing has been the trend at this venue in recent IPL editions.
The standings make this fixture feel bigger than mid-season. The team that wins climbs into a much healthier mid-table position. The team that loses falls four points behind the playoff-chasing pack with seven games to play. Neither side can afford another off night.
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