Balanced SRH Face Resurgent CSK in Key Mid-Table Battle
Hyderabad: Having unearthed two exciting pace potentials in Praful Hinge and Sakib Husain, the balanced Sunrisers Hyderabad will go into the IPL match against Chennai Super Kings on Saturday with renewed confidence. The uncapped duo, chosen to replace seasoned campaigners Harshal Patel and Jaydev Unadkat, made an immediate impact, reducing the Rajasthan Royals to 9 for 5 inside the first three overs and pushing them to their first defeat of the season.
24-year-old Vidarbha pacer Hinge emerged as the standout bowler after dismantling the Royals’ top order comprising Dhruv Jurel, Lhuan-dre Pretorius and skipper Riyan Parag in his fiery first two overs. He finished with 4/34.
Hinge, who created a splash from the spot from behind, was impressive, while Husain, the unheralded 21-year-old from Bihar who was previously overlooked by Kolkata Knight Riders, complimented him on his debut.
Using clever variations in the middle overs, Husain came back with four wickets as Rajasthan were bowled out for 159 while chasing 216.
The emergence of the young duo has removed SRH’s pace attack, which had caused concern earlier in the season, and brought better balance to a side loaded with firepower including Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan and Heinrich Klaasen.
Fresh off their breakout performances, Hinge and Husain will look to put more pressure on CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad, who has struggled to score runs this season. His highest score so far was 28 in five innings.
However, CSK was given some relief when Sanju Samson rediscovered his T20 World Cup form, smashing an unbeaten century against Delhi Capitals and following it up with 48 in the win against Kolkata Knight Riders.
With Gaikwad out of touch, CSK may consider pushing him lower down the order and promoting youngster Ayush Mhatre, who has been impressive with two fifties in his last four innings.
After a poor start with three consecutive defeats, the five-time champions (still without MS Dhoni, who is expected to be ready for the next match in Mumbai) bounced back with two consecutive wins.
However, bowling resources were dealt a blow when left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed was ruled out of the season due to a quadriceps injury sustained in the win over KKR.
Already missing Dhoni and Nathan Ellis, CSK will need to realign their attacking tempo; While Mukesh Choudhary has emerged as a new on-ball option, Ramakrishna Ghosh is another alternative.
SRH bounced back in style at home after losing three of their first four matches and the emergence of their young pace duo will further boost their confidence.
CSK are also riding the newfound momentum with back-to-back wins and will aim to re-strategise following the loss of Khaleel and pick up their first away win of the season in a crucial mid-table clash.
Teams (from start)
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Ishan Kishan (weekly and week-by-week), Abhishek Sharma, Amit Kumar, Salil Arora, Brydon Carse, Pat Cummins, Harsh Dubey, Krains Fuletra, Travis Head, Praful Hinge, Heinrich Klaasen, Liam Livingstone, Eshan Malinga, Kamindu Mendis, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshal Patel, David Payne, Sakib Hussain, Shivam Mavi, Shivang Kumar, Ravichandran Smaran, Onkar Tarmale, Jaydev Unadkat, Aniket Verma, Zeeshan Ansari.
Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Dewald Brevis, MS Dhoni, Urvil Patel, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ayush Mhatre, Shreyas Gopal, Jamie Overton, Khaleel Ahmed, Anshul Kamboj, Gurjapneet Singh, Noor Ahmad, Akeal Hosein, Prashant Veer, Kartik Sharma, Matthew Short, Aman Khan, Sarfaraz Khan, Matt Henry, Rahul Chahar, Zakary Foulkes, Spencer Johnson, Ramakrishna Ghosh and Mukesh Choudhary.
