Southern rivals Chennai, Hyderabad face off

Pune: The Chennai Super Kings batters will have their task cut out when they face Sunrisers Hyderabad and its pace sensation Umran Malik in the IPL here on Sunday.

The 22-year-old Malik has been enjoying his breakthrough season in the League and comes into the southern clash on the back of a stunning five-wicket haul against Gujarat Titans, which eventually was not enough. With the pitches at the MCA Stadium offering assistance for fast bowlers, Malik would be hungry to continue his purple patch.

However, he will need support from his pace colleagues Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Thangarasu Natarajan and Marco Jansen. Meanwhile, the CSK batters, barring veteran Ambati Rayudu, struggled in the previous outing against Punjab Kings. With the team’s play-off chances hanging by a thread (Super Kings has just two wins in eight matches), they would be more than eager to contribute big with the blade.

While Dwayne Bravo has continued to impress in the death overs, the rest of the bowling contingent has been inconsistent for most part of the season. So, the bowling pack would look to fire as a unit to keep the MS Dhoni-led Chennai afloat in the tournament.

Up against it will be a Hyderabad batting attack that is used to chasing. SRH (10 points from 8 matches) set a target for the first time this season in the last game, but failed to defend. While Abhishek Sharma and Aiden Markram are in good touch, skipper Kane Williamson is yet to unleash his best.