Cricket Indian Premier League Prediction

Chennai Super Kings vs Sunrisers Hyderabad - Match Preview

🏏 21 April 2023 - 18:00 GMT +0

Friday night’s IPL action comes from the MA Chidambaram Stadium (Chepauk) where Chennai Super Kings (CSK) take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL). Although Chennai is flirting near the top of the table and the Sunrisers have only Delhi Capitals below them, there are only two points separating the teams ahead of this clash.

CSK have made a strong start to the season and, in spite of losing their opener to Gujarat Titans, have won three of their last four matches. In Chepauk, CSK has won one and lost one so far in this campaign. Across the history of the IPL, they have an excellent record in front of their home fans at this venue and have won more than 70% of their fixtures.

Although it was Ruturaj Gaikwad who kicked the tournament off with 92 runs from 50 balls against Gujarat Titans and hit 97 more runs from his next two innings combined, it is his opening partner Devon Conway who has been in the better form ahead of this match. The New Zealand left-hander is targeting his third successive IPL half-century and took the Player of the Match Award in the last game against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Shivam Dube also struck a half-century against RCB and Ajinkya Rahane has also looked very good with an average of 43.00 and a strike rate of 195.45.

With the ball, Tushar Deshpande is CSK’s leading wicket taker and he recorded his best figures of the season (3/45) in the last game. He is yet to go wicketless in the tournament and has dismissed nine batters across his last four appearances. CSK have taken more wickets than their opponents in each of their last three matches but are still waiting to record their first maiden over of the competition.

The fixture computer was not kind to Sunrisers Hyderabad and saw them face the current top two sides, Rajasthan Royals and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), in their opening games which they lost heavily. However, they bounced back with wins over Punjab Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) before going down by 14 runs to Mumbai Indians on Tuesday.

The Sunrisers have struggled with the bat and currently have no one in the top 20 run scorers of this year’s IPL, and in spite of his fine 100* from 55 balls against KKR, Harry Brook has only contributed 138 runs in total. Rahul Tripathi and captain Aiden Markram are the other two players in the side to have hit scores over 50. That said, there could be an argument to move Heinrich Klaasen up the order as the South African keeper-batter currently has the best strike-rate of any player in the tournament (236.36 - 52 runs from 22 balls).

Ahead of Thursday’s fixtures, Sunrisers are the only team to have two bowlers, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Marco Jansen, to have delivered maiden overs in the tournament. Jansen has been a consistent wicket-taker with two dismissals in each of his three appearances which included the wickets of Indian internationals Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav on Tuesday. However, the fellow left-arm pacer, T Natarajan, may struggle to keep his place in the side after leaking 104 runs across the last two games. Leg-spinner Mayank Markande could be a strong option for the Sunrisers in this game. He has taken six wickets in the tournament and the opening two matches of the 2023 IPL at Chepauk saw spinners, Moeen Ali and Ravichandran Ashwin, pick up the Player of the Match Award.

The all-time average IPL first innings score at the MA Chidambaram Stadium is 163 but we have already seen first innings totals of 217 and 175 this season. Clear skies with a temperature above 30 degrees, but alongside humid conditions, are forecast in Chennai on Friday evening.

⚡ Players to watch: After playing six white-ball internationals in India earlier this year, Devon Conway has had plenty of opportunity to acclimatise to the conditions. He hit an ODI century in Indore, a T20I half-century in Ranchi and has made scores of 47 and 50 in his two appearances for CSK in Chepauk.

Marco Jansen has not only had a strong wicket-taking start in the 2023 IPL but also took at least one wicket in his previous six matches (all internationals) in the run-up to the tournament. His bowling strike rate of 11.00 is down from 27.43 in the 2022 IPL and his average has also plummeted to 16.00 from 39.14.

📋 Stat attack: CSK leads the head-to-head 13-5, including 8-2 when chasing and 7-2 when winning the toss.

• Ruturaj Gaikwad averages 58.75 with a strike rate of 154.60 against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
• Ravindra Jadeja to Rahul Tripathi in the IPL: 2/20 from 20 balls, 2x fours, 0x sixes.
• Tushar Deshpande went wicketless in four consecutive IPL games but has now taken at least one wicket in each of his last six IPL appearances.
• Aiden Markram needs 44 runs in this game to bring up 3000 T20 career runs.
• Sunrisers Hyderabad have won 1/8 matches at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.