The 23rd match of the IPL 2021 will see the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) facing off against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and the match will be played in the Arun Jaitley Stadium (Feroz Shah Kotla), Delhi. It will be a night match and will begin at 7.30 PM IST on April 28, 2021.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are on a roll and handed the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) their first defeat after four consecutive wins.
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Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) meanwhile lost a close encounter against Delhi Capitals (DC) in Chennai in the super over. This loss was their fourth in five matches and this means that they are on the 8th and last spot in the IPL 2021 points table.
Team COC presents the Predicted Playing XIs for this exciting and important encounter between CSK and SRH at Delhi.
CHENNAI SUPER KINGS (CSK)
Chennai Super Kings have found the perfect balance to their playing XI this season with all of their players coming to the fore when called up.
They have a set batting lineup with Faf du Plessis and Ruturaj Gaikwad giving CSK stable and good starts in the last couple of games. Suresh Raina and Ambati Rayudu along with MS Dhoni form a capable middle order who can accelerate when needed and can consolidate if an early wicket falls.
However, the revelation for them is the batting and bowling forms of their two all-rounders Sam Curran and Ravindra Jadeja which has allowed MS Dhoni to tweak his XI as per needs bringing in Lungi Ngidi or Dwayne Bravo where needed.
A little problem for them has been the injury to Moeen Ali, who had given CSK a brilliant option at no.3 and bowling spin in middle overs.
Given that Imran Tahir also did well in CSK’s last match, and the fact that this match will be played in Delhi, a pitch similar to Chennai, slow and spin-friendly, MS Dhoni would feel at home and might bring in Mitchell Santner to replace Moeen Ali.
Dhoni also has the option to bring in K Gowtham as well, who can replace Shardul Thakur, who has been expensive.
There are not many left-handers in the Sunrisers Hyderabad lineup and Santner can also bat well. The fast bowling duo of Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar have enough variations to take advantage of the Kotla pitch and conditions. If CSK wants speed, Lungi Ngidi could come in for Bravo.
They know how struggling the SRH batting lineup is and Dhoni knows when to go for the jugular.
SUNRISERS HYDERABAD (SRH)
David Warner’s Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) can only blame themselves for their loss against Delhi Capitals (DC) in the super over. Not sending Jonny Bairstow to open proved to be fatal for them and now they sit at the last spot in the points table with 1 win out of 5 matches.
Basically, the SRH batting lineup is just David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, and Kane Williamson, with others failing to support them in the latter part of their innings. This might mean SRH bringing back Manish Pandey to bolster the middle order, given the difficulty of playing on Delhi's pitch.
Kedar Jadhav and Vijay Shankar might keep their places, despite Shankar not performing his role as a finisher with the bat and rarely being asked to bowl.
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With Bhuvneshwar Kumar out, Rashid Khan has become their main bowler and only has help from Khaleel Ahmed, as Sandeep Sharma has been benched for some reason. Siddharth Kaul has been expensive, while Abhishek Sharma is a newbie still learning.
SRH might need something exceptional to topple the in-form CSK in this crucial encounter in Delhi.
CSK COC Predicted Playing XI:
Faf du Plessis, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (C&WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, K Gowtham, Deepak Chahar, Imran Tahir, Lungi Ngidi
SRH COC Predicted Playing XI:
David Warner (C), Jonny Bairstow (WK), Kane Williamson, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Vijay Shankar, Abhishek Sharma, Rashid Khan, J Suchith, Siddharth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed
