FANTASY
Follow UsTwo sides with similar fortune, Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad will lock horns with each other at the DY Patil Stadium on Saturday. Unlike most sides in the competition, CSK and SRH will enter into a mode of desperation heading into this afternoon fixture on Super Saturday of the 2022 edition of the IPL.
Ground Details
At the DY Patil Stadium, the average score for teams batting first has been 169, which has not quite been winning scores. With the winning average score being 181, expect the teams batting first to take an aggressive stance. Only two teams have won defending totals at the venue – the Lucknow Super Giants and Rajasthan Royals – which has indeed showed the other sides that it is possible.
Pace has been the dominating factor at the venue, with 64.2% of the wickets (39) being taken by the speedsters. On the other hand, with this fixture being an afternoon one, expect the spinners to play a significant role, with 21 wickets being taken by the tweakers at the venue.
The last clash at the venue, Delhi Capitals vs Lucknow Super Giants, saw the latter win the encounter by six wickets. It was a surface that saw majority of the batters’ struggle, barring the duo of Quinton de Kock and Prithvi Shaw.
Team Selection
Moeen might be a surprise pick here but the English all-rounder is more than capable of turning his season fortunes around, starting with the clash against the SRH. The southpaw, who started the season on a nice note, with a 35 against LSG, immediately was dismissed for a duck in the next game. Expect the all-rounder to come out firing, both with the bat and the ball, considering Pooran in SRH’s outfit.
Criclytics predicts Moeen to score between 19-29 runs against SRH and pick 0-1 wickets
X-factors
After a terrible start to the tournament, with a duck, Rahul Tripathi showed what he is made of in Sunrisers’ clash against the Lucknow Super Giants. The 31-year-old cricketer scored 44 runs off just 30 balls, with five boundaries and a six. Against CSK, the right-hander averages 27.57 with a strike-rate of 138.8, including a high-score of 81.
Criclytics predicts Tripathi to score between 22 to 34 runs against CSK
In a franchise that has struggled for runs, Shivam Dube has stood out for the Super Kings. Barring his failure in the season opener against KKR, where he only scored three runs, he has conjured up 106 runs in the next two encounters, against Super Giants and Punjab Kings. While it was a 49 against the former, it was a scintillating half-century against Punjab, which kept the Super Kings going.
Criclytics predicts Dube to score between 17 to 25 runs against SRH
Washington Sundar was a clear X-factor in SRH’s two games thus far in the season. While in the opener, he smashed the Rajasthan bowlers to all parts of the ground with a counter-attacking punch, in the second clash, he picked up two crucial wickets in the powerplay. Expect the off-spinner to play a similar role against CSK, with plenty of left-handers in the outfit.
Criclytics predicts Washington to score between 8-12 runs against CSK and pick 0-1 wickets
Here are the top-10 picks as per Criclytics projected points
Probable XIs
Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Robin Uthappa, Moeen Ali, Ambati Rayudu, Shivam Dube, MS Dhoni (wk), Ravindra Jadeja (c), Dwayne Bravo, Dwaine Pretorious/Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Chris Jordan/Maheesh Theekshana, Adam Milne
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Kane Williamson (c), Rahul Tripathi, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Aiden Markram, Abdul Samad, Washington Sundar, Romario Shepherd, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan, Umran Malik
