Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni won the toss and opted to bat against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in a return fixture of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Tuesday, 13 October.
This is the first time this season that CSK will not be chasing.
Both teams have made one change each for this game – CSK have brought in Piyush Chawla in place of N Jagadeesan while SRH have replaced Abhishek Sharma with Shahbaz Nadeem.
In the previous meeting between these two times at the same venue, earlier in the season, Sunrisers won by 7 runs.
CSK are coming into this match on the back of two-straight losses – a 37-run defeat against RCB and 10-run loss against KKR. The three-time champions are currently languishing at second-last spot on the points table with two wins in seven games so far.
Sunrisers also lost their previous game, a five-wicket defeat to Rajasthan Royals. They are fifth in the standings with three wins in seven games.
CSK vs SRH: Playing XI
Chennai Super Kings: Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (wicketkeeper, captain), Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Piyush Chawla, Karn Sharma
Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner (captain), Jonny Bairstow (wicketkeeper), Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Priyam Garg, Vijay Shankar, Shahbaz Nadeem, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed, T Natarajan
CSK vs SRH: Preview
Despite being termed as one of the most successful teams in the history of the cash-rich league, the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led CSK has been completely off-colour so far, suffering five defeats in seven games.
CSK have never missed the play-offs in the seasons they have played – barring the the 2016 and 2017 seasons when the Supreme Court banned them following the 2013 IPL betting scandal. But looking at the present circumstances, the Yellow Brigade's journey ahead seems difficult.
The main concern for the CSK side is the lacklustre form of their batsmen, especially the ones in the middle-order. While openers Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis look good with the bat, the others have let the side down, including Dhoni.
SRH's T Natarajan and Khaleel Ahmed have been doing well despite the absence of experienced pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Spinner Rashid Khan has led the bowling attack with aplomb, giving away runs at a miserly rate.
Hyderabad skipper David Warner and opener Jonny Bairstow have been among the runs and even Manish Pandey showed signs of getting back his touch with a scintillating 54 against Rajasthan Royals in their last game.
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