The State of Play
After a 35-run defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore which ended their four-match winning run, Sunrisers Hyderabad are seeking to recover when they face fifth-placed Chennai Super Kings on Sunday.
Shahbaz Ahmed hit an unbeaten 40 but SRH’s usual batting prowess went awry on their way to 171 on Thursday, Abhishek Sharma and captain Pat Cummins their next-highest scorers on 31 each.
“It’s not going to work every game,” Cummins said of his side’s attacking style of play, acknowledging that it was “not an ideal night”.
“There have been or two games where it hasn’t gone our way at the start. We still managed to get a good total. I still think this is the way forward for our boys.”
Fly me to the moon! ✨🧲#WhistlePodu #Yellove 🦁💛 pic.twitter.com/woFTjGpoFB
— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) April 26, 2024
CSK are coming off the back of successive comprehensive defeats to Lucknow Super Giants but had beaten Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders beforehand.
Having set a target of 210, Matheesha Pathirana’s 2/34 – taking his total to 11 wickets from five matches – was the highlight of their bowling, while Ruturaj Gaikwad struck 108 not out and Shivam Dube made 66 off 27 deliveries.
Marcus Stonis’ 124 for LSG gave CSK an onerous task. “We had the game in hand around the 13th over, but hats off to Stoinis,” said Ruturaj.
“There was a huge part that the dew played. It took the spinners away from the game. We could have taken the game deeper. But it is a part of the game; you can’t control the uncontrollable.”
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Expected line-ups
Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Rachin Ravindra, Ajinkya Rahane, Shivam Dube, Daryl Mitchell, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (wk), Sameer Rizvi, Tushar Deshpande, Matheesha Pathirana, Deepak Chahar
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Abdul Samad, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shahbaz Ahmed, Washington Sundar, Pat Cummins (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande
𝐏𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐭 had us all on the edge of our seats 🫡 pic.twitter.com/CUAVNIWC5C
— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) April 26, 2024
How to watch
Sky have the rights to show the IPL to UK viewers in 2024 and will broadcast every game live. Sunday’s match will be shown on Sky Sports Cricket from 2.50pm BST.
In India, the games can be streamed on the Jio Cinema app and website. They are also available across the Star Sports Network.
Prediction
CSK had won three out of four at Cheapuk before LSG put paid to that promising record, and SRH have the firepower to hand them another defeat, although the pitch might favour the hosts.
Gaikwad has 349 and Dube 311, but look out for a return to full throttle from Sunrisers’ Travis Head – on 325 – and Sharma, who’s on 288.
