CSK vs SRH IPL 2018 qualifier 1 preview: Will Chennai or Hyderabad be the first to reach the finals?

Chennai Super Kings CSK IPL 2018

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) will take on Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Qualifier 1 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Wankhede Stadium on May 22. After finishing the league stages as the top two teams, CSK and SRH will get two opportunities to make it to the finals as the loser of this tie will compete again in Qualifier 2 on Friday for a place in the finals.

Chennai will enter this game high on confidence, having managed to get the better of Hyderabad in both games of the league stages. When the two teams first met in match 20 at Hyderabad, SRH won the toss and elected to bowl. Ambati Rayudu (79) and Suresh Raina (54*) helped Chennai post a competitive 182/3 after 20 overs. Deepak Chahar then stole headlines dismissing both Ricky Bhui and Manish Pandey on ducks as CSK got off to a great start restricting SRH to 3/22. Captain Kane Williamson played a captains knock, scoring 84 off 51 balls, which was in vain, as CSK won the game by 4 runs.

In the return fixture at Pune, Chennai won the toss and opted to bowl. Dhawan (79) and Williamson (51) did well as SRH posted 179/4 after 20 overs. CSK openers, Watson (57) and Rayudu (100*) made light work of the run chase adding 134 runs for the first wicket. Watson was finally dismissed in the 14^th over and Raina promptly returned to the pavilion in the 15^th. However, Dhoni stepped up to the crease and took his team to a comfortable 8 wicket victory with an over to spare.

Match Details:

Timing – 7 pm

Venue – Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.

Where to watch – Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1 HD and Hotstar.

Head-to-head: Chennai hold the edge against Hyderabad coming into this game with six wins out of eight games played between the two sides.

Team News:

Shane Watson who was rested for Chennai’s previous outing will be expected to return in place of either Sam Billings of Faf du Plessis. No other changes are expected as Lungi Ngidi and Deepak Chahar will once again be backed to lead the bowling attack.

SRH could name an unchanged side too with Shreevats Goswami impressing at the top of the batting order in their last outing. However, Williamson will be a little concerned about his team’s recent form, having lost all of the last three league fixtures.

Prediction: who will win?

Although SRH sit at the top of the IPL points table thanks to their superior net run rate, they weren’t able to get the better of Chennai in both league fixtures. Chennai who have been in dominant form this season will be expected to come out on top in tonight’s fixture.

Betting odds: According to Oddscheker.com the odds are placed at 7/6 for SRH and 4/5 for CSK.

Wankhede Stadium pitch report: The track has always been a batting-friendly pitch, however, in the recent matches we have seen some good bounce on offer to the pace bowlers. With both teams boasting of some serious firepower in their batting line-up, we should be treated to a high scoring encounter tonight.

MC Dream XI: MS Dhoni (wk), K Williamson, S Dhawan, A Rayudu, S Raina, S Watson, R Khan, L Ngidi, D Chahar, S Kaul and B Kumar.

Players to watch out for:

Kane Williamson (SRH) – The Hyderabad skipper has 661 runs to his name from just 14 matches and sits in second position on the list of highest run scorers this season. He has adapted brilliantly to the shorter format of the game unleashing his vast array of traditional cricketing shots to add quick runs to the scoreboard.

Ambati Rayudu (CSK) – After a quite game against the Kings XI Punjab, Chennai’s leading run scorer will be eager to get among the runs once again. Ever since being promoted higher up to open the batting for CSK, Rayudu has gone on to score 586 runs at a strike rate of 153.40. He even managed to score an unbeaten 100* in the last game against the Sunrisers and CSK will be hoping for a repeat of that performance.