CSK vs SRH Match Prediction: Who will win today's IPL 2024 match?
The SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) travel to Chennai with a chance of doing something rare - ensuring that the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) lose two games in succession at Chepauk.
The Men in Yellow are on the back of a hugely disappointing loss to the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), with both their performances and their tactics severely underwhelming. The fact that they lost to LSG at the Ekana Stadium prior to that has meant that they have slipped out of the top half of the table, and while the alarm bells don't need to ring just yet, another loss could prove to be a major setback.
The Orange Army, meanwhile, suffered an unprecedented loss to the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in their last IPL 2024 game. Their smash-bang style of play was definitely going to come up short at some point, but they did enough to ensure that their net run rate didn't take a major hit.
SRH have historically struggled to beat CSK, but when the two teams met in Hyderabad earlier in the season, the home side managed to pull off a dominant win. Abhishek Sharma set the tone with a sparkling cameo as the Super Kings were left to rue a costly drop of Travis Head in the powerplay.
Beating Chennai in Chennai is never easy, but Hyderabad have enough tools in their shed. Can they further their top-four push while dealing a painful blow to the hosts?
IPL 2024, CSK vs SRH Win Probability: Will the Chepauk factor play a role?
The SRH vs RCB game might just have given teams a blueprint to tackle the former's power-packed batting unit. The lineup is heavily dependent on Abhishek Sharma and Heinrich Klaasen to tackle spin, and while both batters have motored along at two of the best strike rates in the competition, they haven't played long innings of late.
If CSK can prepare a turning track and get Moeen Ali into action in the powerplay, the off-spinner might be able to ask questions of Travis Head, just like Will Jacks did in the previous game. And with Ravindra Jadeja present to control the middle overs against the SRH right-handers, the Super Kings would be able to make the most of their home advantage.
Another key to victory for CSK would be to bat with more intent in the powerplay. Ajinkya Rahane, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Daryl Mitchell must come out all guns blazing, and the home side will need to use every batting resource they have to trouble SRH.
If Chennai don't do that, and they might not, Hyderabad will be confident of their chances. Pat Cummins has led the side well in IPL 2024, and based on how the two sides have fared so far, SRH are the clear favorites for this encounter.
However, CSK have managed to shackle a power-packed batting unit on a turner once already in IPL 2024, when they beat the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by a comfortable margin. If they follow the same template, they could pull off an upset.
Prediction: CSK to win Match 46 of IPL 2024.