In the 17th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) will be facing each other at the Dr DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday (April 9). Ravindra Jadeja’s reign as captain of CSK has started with three consecutive losses in as many matches, and Kane Williamson’s SRH hasn’t witnessed anything different this season as well, as they have lost both their matches played so far.
CSK suffered defeats against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), and their last loss came against Punjab Kings (PBKS). Although the bowlers did well in the first innings, the batters failed and CSK was bundled out for 126 in 18 overs, chasing a target of 181. On the other hand, SRH lost their season opener against Rajasthan Royals (RR) by a huge margin and followed that with a close defeat against new entrants LSG, falling short by 12 while chasing 170 at the same venue as Saturday’s match.
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The two southern rivals have locked horns with each other 16 times in IPL so far and it is CSK that has enjoyed the fair share of success against SRH with 12 wins. CSK also hold the edge in the last five meetings as they have won 3 games. So, we will be in for an interesting contest on Saturday afternoon as both teams need their maiden win of the season. As for the team combination, both teams may stick to the same 11 from their last match. Ahead of the key clash at the DY Patil stadium, we take a look at the three key player battles to watch out for.
#1 Nicholas Pooran vs Moeen Ali
Moeen Ali has made a comeback to playing XI and it will be a major boost for CSK and for good reason. His spell will be crucial for CSK. Nicholas Poora, meanwhile, gave a valuable lesson in SRH’ last match on how a batter with intent could accelerate despite a slow start. It will thus be a cracking contest between pace and panache when Pooran and Ali face off.
#2 MS Dhoni vs Bhuvneshwar Kumar
And just when the world thought MS Dhoni has lost his batting skills, he rolled back the clock with a fifty in CSK’s season opener against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Dhoni will fancy his chances against vetran seamer, Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Dhoni will look to put pressure by milking those ones and twos against Bhuvi and launching him into the stands as he progresses.
#3 Kane WIlliamson vs DJ Bravo
Kane WIlliamson has not been able to do anything special with the batting in the tournament last season, although the team had also failed to reach the ‘Playoffs’, he will be expected to bat better this year. He was dismissed early in the opening game against RR. On the other hand, even for DJ Bravo, the tournament did not bring many results last season. The franchise would expect him to be at his best this season.
