IPL 2018, Match 46, CSK vs SRH Match Prediction: Who will win the match today, Chennai Super Kings or Sunrisers Hyderabad?

The Super Kings will be hoping to seal their place in the playoffs.

Published - 12 May 2018, 20:38 IST | Updated - 12 May 2018, 20:38 IST

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The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have lost 3 out of their last 5 games and are putting themselves into a pressure situation. By no means are they on their way to elimination, but they are not guaranteed a playoff spot yet and that’s what they should beware of. They can’t take things for granted.

The Sunrisers Hyderabad, on the other hand, is the only team to have qualified for the playoffs so far. They have 9 wins in 11 games and if they are able to add one more to their tally, they will be certain to finish in top 2 and will play in Qualifier 1.

Pitch and Conditions

The MCA stadium pitch in Pune will be slow and the square bat shots won’t be easy to play. The key for the bowlers will be not to bowl full, but to bowl back of a length and force the batsmen to play sideways rather than straight. From the batsmen’s point of view, hitting on the rise won’t be advisable and they will be better off going as close to the ball as possible.

Playing Combination

Chennai Super Kings

Probable Changes – Sam Billings out, Lungi Ngidi in

As the tournament is progressing and the pitches are getting slower and slower, teams need skilful batting in the middle overs against spin bowling. Sam Billings doesn’t fit that bill. He struggled right through his innings last night against Rajasthan and it’s hard to see him getting another game this season.

CSK needs to slot Ambati Rayudu at no. 4 as he is the best player of spin in their line-up after Suresh Raina. He can control the innings well in the middle overs and can go on to finish the innings too later with the designated finishers down the order.

If Rayudu comes down at 4, his opening slot should be taken by David Willey who has been an explosive opener in T20 cricket for the English county of Yorkshire. He can make a lethal impact with Shane Watson up the order when the ball is hard and new.

Billings replacement in the XI should be Lungi Ngidi as CSK is clearly lacking a death bowler and the big South African has got to do the job with Dwayne Bravo. Those two have the desired skill-set for death bowling and they must take the responsibility going ahead in the tournament.

Predicted XI: Shane Watson, David Willey, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (C & WK), Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Karn Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Shardul Thakur, Lungi Ngidi

Sunrisers Hyderabad

Probable Changes – No change

The Sunrisers Hyderabad are going so well in all facets of the game that there is no way they will contemplate any change barring any fitness issues. They would be delighted to see Shikhar Dhawan play as well as he did the other evening at Kotla. The left-hander is such a vital cog in their line-up and if he is in form, their batting at the top looks strong enough.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar took a bit of tap from Rishabh Pant the previous game, but it was just one of those games where he didn’t get his lengths right. It doesn’t happen too often with him and he won’t be overly bothered about it, nor will be the team management. The right-arm still remains Hyderbad’s key man in the death.

Predicted XI: Shikhar Dhawan, Alex Hales, Kane Williamson (C), Manish Pandey, Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Shreevats Goswami (WK), Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul, Sandeep Sharma

Team Comparison

This is a classic encounter simply because of the fact that the strongest batting unit in the tournament is up against the strong bowling unit. Both teams have dominated the competition with bat and ball respectively till this stage and it will be interesting to see who comes out on top when they run into each other tomorrow.

CSK obviously has more issues to ponder than Hyderabad, but they have got a lot of depth in their squad and a lot of options for different departments. They haven’t yet lost two games on the bounce this season and given that they are playing at home as well, Hyderabad will have their task cut out.