Having lost two matches in a row, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) would be under a bit of pressure when they take on in-form Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Tuesday.
On Sunday, CSK faced a heart-wrenching one-run defeat against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Chasing a "below par total" of 162, CSK lost their top four batsman inside the first four overs. It was only MS Dhoni, who single-handedly brought them into the match and kept their hopes alive till the last ball of the inning.
Despite two consecutive losses, CSK still sit pretty at the top of the points table with 14 points from 10 games. However, they will like their top order to perform and secure a playoffs berth.
But it will be a tough ask for them against SRH, who would be riding high on confidence after their comprehensive victory against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Hyderabad.
SRH, however, will be wary of the fact that Tuesday's game would be the last match for their in-form opener Johnny Bairstow, who will be leaving to attend England's training camp for the upcoming World Cup. Both David Warner and Bairstow have scored the bulk of the runs for the SRH and their middle-order has not performed -- a fact well known to them and their opponents.
With five wins from nine games, the Kane Williamson-led side would want to continue with the winning momentum and move upwards in the points table.
The last time these two teams met in the ongoing IPL, SRH had secured a convincing six-wicket win at their home ground.
Squads:
Chennai Super Kings: Harbhajan Singh, Shane Watson, Dwayne Bravo, MS Dhoni (c), Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Murali Vijay, Karn Sharma, Kedar Jadhav, Ambati Rayudu, Imran Tahir, Faf du Plessis, Deepak Chahar, Sam Billings, Mohit Sharma, Shardul Thakur, Dhruv Shorey, Scott Kuggeleijn, Monu Kumar, Mitchell Santner, Chaitanya Bishnoi, N Jagadeesan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, KM Asif
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Martin Guptill, Wriddhiman Saha, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, David Warner, Shreevats Goswami, Siddarth Kaul, Manish Pandey, Mohammad Nabi, Kane Williamson (c), Jonny Bairstow, Shahbaz Nadeem, Vijay Shankar, Sandeep Sharma, Ricky Bhui, Deepak Hooda, Billy Stanlake, T Natarajan, Basil Thampi, Rashid Khan, K Khaleel Ahmed, Abhishek Sharma