Confident Sunrisers look to inflict third straight defeat on wounded Chennai

Two of the most consistent teams over the past few years in the Dream 11 IPL find themselves in an unfamiliar position. While the Chennai Super Kings have huffed and puffed in pursuit of high chases losing two of their first three games, the Sunrisers finally seemed to have gotten a grip on their best starting eleven. Yet, two of the most consistent teams over the past few years find themselves in the bottom two of the Points table after three rounds.

Chennai Super Kings started off with a win against the defending champions Mumbai Indians, but since have found going tough with their inconsistent bowling leaking more runs than their batting seems to be capable of chasing down. MS Dhoni’s batting tactics have come under severe criticism from experts, while the rest of the batting unit apart from Faf du Plessis has failed to inspire any confidence. However, the return of Ambati Rayudu will be a huge sigh of relief for the Superkings. Dwayne Bravo is also scheduled to return, but it will be interesting to see who makes way for the champions all-rounder.

The bowling form of Ravindra Jadeja will be a cause for headache who has in his last 8 overs bled 88 runs. In the absence of Harbhajan Singh, Jadeja’s form was always going to be crucial to CSK’s chances, and his failures have coincided with Chennai’s. The Men in yellow would have hoped Lungi Ngidi would provide the spark in the fast bowling department, but the South African has lost his place to Josh Hazlewood with uninspiring outings in the first two games of the season. Sam Curran’s all-round performances have been the standout for a team seemingly struggling to find their footing in the tournament.

The Sunrisers having lost their first two games appear to have found their best eleven with the inclusion of Kane Williamson giving the middle order a much-needed facelift. While their top 3 have done their duties, the middle order lacked any resistance in the first two games. Williamson has solved that pain point for the Orange army. Whenever Vijay Shankar returns to the fold, the Sunrisers batting will look even stronger.

T Natarajan reposed the faith shown in him by the Sunrisers management with a superb spell of fast bowling, giving away only 25 runs from his four overs in defence of 162. Defending a total of 162, the Sunrisers bowling was back to its menacing best, their international pros - Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Rashid Khan emulating their performances from yesteryears. Rashid Khan found his rhythm back and was key to Sunrisers being able to defend a par score of 162 against a power-packed Delhi Capitals lineup.

While Chennai have had an extended period of time off from the game to return to the drawing board, re-strategise and bring back players from the injury room, a much upbeat Sunrisers will be keen to get on the field and keep the momentum going. Two teams who have traditionally been at the top half of the table, neither of them will be willing to give an inch, which will make for fascinating viewing.