Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) will take on the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on April 21 at the M.A. Chidambaram stadium in Chennai. The Aiden Markram-led side will hope to get back to winning ways after defeat to Mumbai Indians in their last game.
After losing their opening two games convincingly to the Rajasthan Royals (RR) and the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), SRH bounced back in style by winning their next two games against PBKS and KKR. Last time out, they lost to MI by 14 runs as they were all out for 178 while chasing a target of 193. Sunrisers Hyderabad have won two and lost three of their five games so far and are second from bottom on the table. The franchise will need all-round improvement if they want to be part of the playoffs come the end of the season.
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The SRH batting looked like million bucks in the win against KKR when they scored almost 230 runs on the back of Harry Brook’s century and contributions from Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen and Abhishek Sharma. There have been flashes of brilliance from the SRH batters but none of them have made consistent contributions so far this season. Brook has scored 138 runs so far, Rahul Tripathi has scored 124 runs and Markram has scored 109 runs so far.
{{/usCountry}}The SRH batting looked like million bucks in the win against KKR when they scored almost 230 runs on the back of Harry Brook’s century and contributions from Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen and Abhishek Sharma. There have been flashes of brilliance from the SRH batters but none of them have made consistent contributions so far this season. Brook has scored 138 runs so far, Rahul Tripathi has scored 124 runs and Markram has scored 109 runs so far.
{{/usCountry}}Mayank Agarwal has also scored 113 runs but at a paltry strike rate of 108. At the start of the innings scoring runs quickly is of paramount importance, especially in the power-play. Tripathi might be better suited opening with Brook to take advantage of the fielding restrictions with Agarwal playing in the middle-order. Head coach Brian Lara already made a few changes to the batting line-up after two losses in the two opening games and would surely not be hesitant to make further changes if he feels it would benefit the team.
Washington Sundar hasn’t had the best start to the season, he has not contributed with the bat and is yet to pick up a solitary wicket. SRH have tried him in different roles but so far nothing has worked. The SRH bowlers have leaked quite a few runs in some games this season.
AS for the wickets column, Mayank Markande and Marco Jansen have picked up 6, Umran Malik has picked up 5 wickets, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Natarajan have also chipped in with 4 scalps each. Malik, Natarajan, and Bhuvneshwar have an economy of 11, 10 and 9 respectively so far this season. Umran was dropped for the game against MI as he had conceded too many runs in the game before but the SRH bowling unit looked weak with only five specialist bowlers and Umran might return to the line-up against CSK.
Impact Player: Abdul Samad, Washington Sundar or Mayank Dagar could be utilised as the Impact players.
Openers: Mayank Agarwal, Harry Brook.
Middle Order: Aiden Markram (c), Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Rahul Tripathi.
All-Rounders: Abhishek Sharma, Marco Jansen.
Bowlers: Umran Malik, T Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande.