Shortly from now, we have a match between two of the best teams in the Indian Premier League 2018 so far – Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad. CSK are yet to qualify but Sunrisers have confirmed their position in the top-2.
Sunrisers Hyderabad look like an increasingly difficult team to beat. Can CSK win against this awesome team, perhaps the best in the history of the IPL? They not only have the most fearsome bowling attack, even their batting is looking solid with the top three of Shikhar Dhawan, Alex Hales and Kane Williamson showing amazing consistency in match after match.
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CSK have been criticized a lot recently. They are the oldest team in the IPL. A team of grizzled veterans, with an average age of over 30. Even their biggest new find of the season, Ambati Rayudu, is over 30. They have been called “you’re too old” and “you field like a hologram” and other fun stuff by the crowd.
That’s all very fine. Despite being a team with too many old players, CSK have done very well in this IPL. The only concern is that their bowling has let them down.
Dhoni said as much, speaking at the end of the last match against Rajasthan Royals where his team was beaten despite making a high first innings total.
Dhoni said in a post-match interview: “Looking at the XI that we have on the field, we did well in the field. We can say we can get better, but with the players we have, this is the best we can get. It is important to start delivering when it comes to the planning part. You just don’t want to qualify into the knockout stages, you have to win games. You also need to adjust to what length to bowl and how to bowl.”
This makes this match all the more interesting as Dhoni knows he has to win this game, otherwise there is a risk that CSK may not even make it to the top-4.
The Teams
Chennai Super Kings: 1 Shane Watson, 2 Faf du Plessis, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Ambati Rayudu, 5 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Dwayne Bravo, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Karn Sharma, 10 Shardul Thakur, 11 Lungi Ngidi
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Alex Hales, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Shakib Al Hasan, 5 Manish Pandey, 6 Yusuf Pathan, 7 Rashid Khan, 8 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Siddharth Kaul, 11 Sandeep Sharma
Watch Chennai Super Kings play Sunrisers Hyderabad this evening at 4 pm on Star Sports!
