The Indian Premier League heads back to Dubai on Tuesday as two teams currently sat outside the top four meet when the Sunrisers Hyderabad take on the Chennai Super Kings in another chance for both teams to kick their season into life.
It isn’t just inconsistency in the results which have dogged these two teams so far this season, their performances have followed a similar path so both will be eager to get the job done here and start the second half of their campaign positively.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
To be fair the Sunrisers Hyderabad are probably wondering how they didn’t see off the Rajasthan Royals on Sunday. The simple answer is that they didn’t put up enough runs and they paid the price. When you don’t have a huge total you are vulnerable to a cameo from someone and they ran into exactly that. The Sunrisers were shackled early on and for a side who rely so heavily on their openers they were always behind the game from there.
To their credit they did get up to a competitive total and it was only late on when the Royals got on top of them but one concern going into this match would be that Rashid Khan was taken apart in the last game. That doesn’t happen very often to be fair and the Sunrisers will be eager for him to get back to his best here in order to take the pressure off the seam bowlers towards the end of the innings when things can get a bit giddy.
Chennai Super Kings
The Chennai Super Kings seem to have accepted that their original plans are not cutting the mustard both in design and the personnel they are using and made changes for the last game. Further changes are still needed but there is a clear sign that the pitches are beginning to slow down now and it is that time when they are more likely to come strong as that would be a parallel to how conditions usually are in Chennai.
The big problem the Super Kings have had has been with the bat. The only time they have looked convincing with the bat this season was when their openers did all the job. Their middle order has continuously slowed the game down and heaven only knows why they are not batting Ravi Jadeja further up the order. With the ball you’ve got to think that sooner rather than later it is the time for Imran Tahir to be freed up to play.
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Key Men
Sunrisers Hyderabad are missing one or two bowlers because injury so they really need their talisman with the ball, Rashid Khan, to be at his best more often than not. If he can bowl well and pile the pressure on this poor Chennai middle order it will help the Sunrisers enormously.
Chennai Super Kings seriously need someone in their middle order to come in and deliver the goods. They seem reluctant to promote Ravi Jadeja so that player is likely to have to be MS Dhoni. He needs to hit the turbo gear but seems stuck in reverse at the minute.
Betting
In many ways these two sides are very similar. Both rely heavily on their opening batsmen and have a middle order that has been a little too hit or miss for their liking and then with the ball there is an element of both attacks that are struggling but they look to get by with the stronger parts of those units covering the weaknesses of those around them. Given that they are similar in profile and pretty evenly matched it is probably no surprise that bookmakers can’t separate the two.
I think the bet for this match is under 39.5 boundaries. It is a huge line anyway with the way the pitches are slowing right up but when you factor in that really these are two struggling batting line ups away from the openers it looks even more likely that the under will land. Neither team can bat that freely in the powerplay because they won’t want to expose out of form orders below them and that can save a few boundaries. I don’t see these two sides threatening this line so it is the under for me.
Tips
WON – Back Under 39.5 boundaries for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with William Hill
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