What

Sunrisers Hyderabad make their first appearance in Pepsi IPL 2015 when they clash with the Chennai Super Kings in Match 4.

In their first outing of the season, CSK got their first points on the board when they held their nerve to beat the Delhi Daredevils by a solitary run. The two-time champions posted a modest 150 on the board, but MS Dhoni’s shrewd leadership and the team’s habit and experience of winning the pressure moments, meant they did just enough to snatch the two points from the hands of their opponents. Over the years, the team has established a reputation of being slow beginners; prior to 2015, they had won the opening fixture of the season only twice in seven seasons. CSK supporters will believe the 1-run victory on Thursday augurs well for the team’s fortunes.

SRH will be keen to make a marked improvement over their last season’s performance when they finished sixth in the standings with six wins in 14 matches. The team made a few interesting buys at the Pepsi IPL 2015 Player Auction. Apart from Kevin Pietersen (who will only possibly join up if the team qualifies for the Playoffs), the team bagged the services of Trent Boult, Praveen Kumar, Eoin Morgan, Ravi Bopara and Kane Williamson among others. The team has a good mix of established Indian players – Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Naman Ojha – to name a few, and experienced overseas players in Dale Steyn, Moises Henriques and skipper David Warner.

When

11 April 2015, 4p.m. IST

Where

MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai

The Protagonists

CSK will look towards their opening pair of Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith, and Suresh Raina, to face the bulk of the deliveries and score the bulk of the runs. In MS Dhoni and Dwayne Bravo they have two very explosive batsmen batting lower down the order. On the bowling front, R Ashwin (who was impressive in the match against MI) and Bravo (in his capacity as death-overs bowler), will play key roles.

SRH will need a big runs from one or both of Shikhar Dhawan and David Warner. The England limited overs captain Eoin Morgan is a dangerous T20 cricketer and he will be expected to give the innings the impetus at the back end. On the bowling front, the pace trio led by Dale Steyn and comprising of Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be expected to keep the lids on the CSK batsmen.

Contests to look-forward to

Dale Steyn will have a score to settle when he runs in to bowl to CSK’s Brendon McCullum. The Kiwi batsman had taken the South African fast bowler to the cleaners when they faced off in the semi-final of the World Cup 2015. On that occasion, McCullum hit Steyn for 4 fours and 3 sixes, and scored a total of 36 runs off 14 deliveries he faced from the South African new-ball bowler.

Previous Meetings

The Chennai Super Kings have a 3-1 win-loss record in IPL matches against the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Among memorable performances in CSK-SRH matches are Suresh Raina’s unbeaten 99 in 2013 – the only instance being stranded unbeaten on 99 in the IPL.

Trivia

The newly-appointed SRH captain David Warner will be desperate for his team to win. Where the IPL is concerned, he has so far been captain twice previously – leading the Delhi Daredevils briefly in 2013 – but his team ended up losing both those contests.

Dale Steyn has gone wicketless in 6 of the 11 IPL matches he has played against the Chennai Super Kings.

What Next

MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings will enjoy a brief break before they will be seen pitted against the Mumbai Indians on April 17. Sunrisers Hyderabad meanwhile head to Bengaluru for their away fixture against Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 13.