CSK look to seal playoffs berth against in-form SRH

PUNE: Stung by a defeat to Rajasthan Royals, the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) would aim to make amends when they take on a raging Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in an IPL match here on Sunday.

CSK have 14 points from 11 matches and need only one win to make it to the business end of this edition. The contest on Friday night, against an under-pressure Royals’ side, was an opportunity missed as CSK made plenty of errors late in both the innings.

While their batsmen could not garner as many runs as they would have liked towards the end, the bowlers gave away 38 runs in the final 18 balls. MS Dhoni expressed dissatisfaction over the mistakes made by his

bowlers.

On the other hand, having already qualified for the IPL playoffs, Sunrisers Hyderabad would take this game as an opportunity to prepare for knockout stages. With CSK close to qualifying, a meeting between the two teams for the third time in the tournament in the knockouts is a possibility.

With three defeats in six matches, the pressure is on CSK.

CSK had announced their return to IPL in style with a string of close wins to begin with, but they seem to have lost a bit of steam as the tournament progressed.

While CSK have three of their batsmen — Ambati Rayudu (435 runs), Dhoni (393 runs) and Shane Watson (367 runs) featuring among top 10 run-getters, none of their bowlers are in elite league. The fact that CSK failed to defend scores in the range of 160180 thrice in last five matches, shows how bowlers have been below par.