While Chennai have dominated the points table rather impressively, Sunrisers have completely lost the plot with three back-to-back defeats. Their batting collapse against Delhi Capitals was abysmal to say the very least. Hyderabad will have to really pull up their socks to complete against a charged Chennai outfit.
The match was also see Ambati Rayudu playing his first match after the World Cup snub. Not long ago, Virat Kohli had announced that Rayudu will be India's number four at the World Cup, but things have changed drastically since. Even a half-century against Rajasthan Royals wasn't enough for him to win back the selectors' faith. As such, the veteran would be keen to make a strong statement.
While Chennai have most bases covered, Sunrisers are struggling in most areas. The only aspect of their game that has been impressive is the brilliant opening stands between Jonny Bairstow and David Warner. While the latter has 400 runs, the former has amassed 304.
Take out Warner and Bairstow, and the Sunrisers have precious little to show. Even in the last game, the duo put them in a winning position but the others just could not do the finishing job and collapsed spectacularly. Hyderabad will continue to struggle unless things change.
Squads
SunRisers Hyderabad: Kane Williamson (capt), Basil Thampi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Hooda, Manish Pandey, T Natarajan, Ricky Bhui, Sandeep Sharma, Siddarth Kaul, Shreevats Goswami, Khaleel Ahmed, Yusuf Pathan, Billy Stanlake, David Warner, Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Shakib Al Hasan, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Wriddhiman Saha, Martin Guptill, Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (capt/wk), Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Murali Vijay, Kedar Jadhav, Sam Billings, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Shorey, Chaitanya Bishnoi, Rituraj Gaikwad, Dwayne Bravo, Karn Sharma, Imran Tahir, Harbhajan Singh, Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Mohit Sharma, K M Asif, Deepak Chahar, N Jagadeesan, Scott Kuggeleijn.
--By A Cricket Correspondent