IPL 2018: Qualifier 1, CSK vs SRH: MS Dhoni - Kane Williamson fight it out for finale berth

The match will be played at Wankhede stadium.

The game will test out both the captains.

After a hard fought season the top two teams in the league stage Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad will fight it out for a berth in the finals if the IPL 2018 season which is to be played on Sunday. 

In the process, both will try to avoid playing in Kolkata which is set to host the Eliminator and the second qualifier. All said and done now is the time when both the teams need to do what has worked for them till now and stick to their strength. 

The match will be played in Mumbai and its an early start. The match begins at 7 pm. The Mumbai strip has always been known for dishing out high scoring encounters and one expects this match to be played on the same lines. 

It is thus up to the bowlers to counter the batsmen with their own ability. Both teams boast of leaders who are cool and calm under pressure and has inspired their teams to win tough games. 

Going into the playoffs, its a totally different game as compared to the league games. Here you lose and you are potentially out. The Eliminator then becomes a must win game and it becomes that much more difficult the second time round. However, both teams will know that the playoff game at the Wankhede is a different beast altogether. Having secured their progress a while ago, the teams will now be confronted with a high-pressure situation. Form has deserted SRH, while CSK need to get rid of a strange habit that has been stuck to them for nearly a month. It could just result in both teams going all out and giving the fans a game to die for. It could also mean a game of who blinks first. 

As far as team changes from both camps are concerned going into this match, SRH as par reports are looking to persist with the same team despite their defeat against KKR in their last league game. 

CSK will be looking to bring back Shane Watson, a tried and tested option at the top. This means that Faf du Plessis will have to make way for him. Now, MS Dhoni changed the batting order in their last game against KXIP. It will be interesting to see if he does something like that in this must-win game. The team is expected to be unchanged going into this game. 

Toss

Chennai Super Kings have won the toss and have opted to field

Playing XI 

Chennai Super Kings: Ambati Rayudu, Shane Watson, Suresh Raina, Faf du Plessis, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Harbhajan Singh, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Lungi Ngidi

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Shikhar Dhawan, Shreevats Goswami(w), Kane Williamson(c), Manish Pandey, Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Carlos Brathwaite, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul, Sandeep Sharma

 
 

By Anshuman Roy - 22 May, 2018

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