Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) will take on the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in their second home game at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad on Friday, April 5. SRH have been pretty extreme in the three games they have played so far. They almost pulled off a heist against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their tournament opener before smoking 277 runs in their 20 overs against the Mumbai Indians at home in Hyderabad.
A few days later, they even struggled to get to 180 on a slower surface in Ahmedabad where their batters couldn't hit through the line and Gujarat Titans' bowlers ruled the roost. The match did go to the last two overs but the Orange Army were deflated in the first innings itself. Their opposition, Chennai Super Kings too are coming off a loss against the Delhi Capitals as their openers failed in a big run-chase after their bowlers were all over the place in bits and batting first might suit them the best, like how they did against the Titans at home.
Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad pitch report
Hyderabad has produced sensational batting wickets in the last few months whether it was in the World Cup or the Test series opener between India and England and now the IPL. 523 runs, 38 sixes and records being broken left, right and centre was probably how the people of Hyderabad wanted the IPL 2024 to begin in the city and the home team winning was the icing on the cake. Expect the surface to be no different for the game against the Chennai Super Kings, or probably all the matches in the City of Nawabs.
SRH head coach Daniel Vettori in the last game said that the slow pitch in Ahmedabad didn't resonate with what they want to do and achieve as a team and motivated the team by saying that their next three games are in Hyderabad, Mohali and Bengaluru respectively, comparatively better batting surfaces than what they got against the Gujarat Titans. Hence, expect the team to go hell for leather yet again.
The toss is a tricky once because you'd want to chase on a ground where such high scores are being posted but as SRH last week and the Kolkata Knight Riders showed on April 3 in Vizag, batting first on belters is not a bad option either. Another run-fest on cards!
