Sunrisers Hyderabad v Chennai Super Kings
Sunday 1 May, 15:00
TV: live on Sky Sports
Punjab still unbalanced
Sunrisers have been on an extraordinary run, winning five of their last six. It was ironic that defeat came against Gujarat Titans when their batting belatedly fired.
They have been consistently ponderous with the willow and rate no higher than seventh for boundary percentage. Surprising then that they failed to defend 195 when they are No 1-ranked for bowling boundary percentage.
Instead of worrying what to expect a return to the status quo looks likely. That means Abhishek Sharma and Kane Williamson going slowly up front and leaving all the hard work to the likes of Aiden Markram and Nic Pooran. The bowling should return to top notch.
Possible XI: Abhishek, Williamson, Tripathi, Markram, Pooran, Sundar, Shahshank, Jansen, Kumar, Natarajan, Malik
Giants steady
Chennai's play-off hopes are only mathematically alive after two wins in eight. They have failed to look like current holders.
There are mitigating circumstances. Before a ball was bowled key pacer Deepak Chahar was ruled out of the tournament and they've not come to terms with that.
Defeat by a chaotic and inconsistent Punjab team last time out was damning. Selection has been confused. Mitchell Santner at No 3 instead of Moeen Ali? Really? Ravi Jadja has been a disaster as skipper in terms of his own form.
Probable XI: Gaikwad, Uthappa, Santner, Dube, Rayudu, Jadeja, Dhoni, Pretorius, Brave, Choudhury, Theekshana
Pitch report
The eight first-innings scores at Pune this season (1-2 denote match won by team batting first or second, most recent first) read: 158-1/144-1/169-2/198-1/151-2/161-2/171-1/210-1.
The surface continues to not live up to its reputation for runs. A first-innings average of 170 sounds healthy but when you're paying mid-170s or high 170s on the runs par line it's not so good.
Last time out Lucknow really struggled against Punjab, a previously pricey bowling attack. With the Chennai batting flaky and Sunrisers hot with the ball, it's an unders wager if the toss goes our way. Bet the runs par line here
Sunrisers shining
Sunrisers are 1.9720/21 with Chennai not much bigger at 2.0421/20. We're surprised the market can't split these to considering recent form and position on the table. Surely the numbers haven't been produced because of historic reputation? Bet the match odds here
If there's one team that this Sunrisers team would not be worried about facing it is Chennai. They lack the bowling power to expose that consistent trend for underperformance with the bat while their own wilowmen have been underwhelming.
Indeed, Sunrisers thrashed CSK by eight wickets earlier in the tournament and we wouldn't be sur-prised if it is a similarly easy encounter.
Tops value
Ruturaj Gaikwad is available at 3/1 for top CSK bat. He has had a disappointing tournament but we will take a risk. It's value on how often he wins and he showed glimpses of form against Punjab. Gaikwad has very little to beat. Santner, at No 3, is rated at 11/1. It's wrong on order but not on abil-ity.
For Sunrisers, Williamson is 11/10 fot more than 30 runs. There could be value in backing Marco Janesen at 5s for a late cameo.
Their standout performer is with the ball and Umran Malik should probably be jolly for top bowler instead of a tasty 10/3. He took five wickets against Gujarat.
With both teams lacking batting power, going under sixes at 15.5 isn't a bad shout. The ground av-erage is 16 and the tournament average is 14.5. The odds are 5/6.
Bet the Sportsbook odds here
Bet the match odds here