File photo: This season, Chennai Super Kings has relied more on individual brilliance than collective clarity to overcome challenges. | Photo Credit: R.V Moorthy

A pre-2024 IPL Sunrisers Hyderabad could best be described by the idiom “here, there, and everywhere”. However, since that campaign ended with Pat Cummins’ side finishing runner-up, there has been conviction in its template.

SRH now looks like a sought-after T20 side, binary in both approach and results: either a dominant win or a one-sided loss. Take its last outing, for instance – an 82-run defeat to Gujarat Titans, which bundled Hyderabad out for just 86.

Despite the losses, SRH’s strength – and sometimes its weakness – lies in staying true to its identity: batters continuing to attack regardless of the situation.

For Chennai Super Kings, the script is flipped. It’s a side that has looked all over the place since 2024. After winning the title in 2023, it has missed the playoffs twice and is struggling to stay alive this season, too. There is no set template, especially in the batting department. The team has relied more on individual brilliance than collective clarity to overcome challenges.

On Monday, the Super Kings will once again face a familiar obstacle – a must-win match to keep their campaign alive. They host the Sunrisers, who are in a slightly better position, at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in their final home game of the season.

However, a win alone will not suffice for the home side. CSK also needs a significant Net Run Rate boost, meaning its batters must overpower the SRH bowling attack and follow a template they are yet to fully discover.

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Sanju Samson has been CSK’s standout performer, scoring 450 runs at a strike rate of over 164. But there is a massive gulf between him and the next highest scorer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, who has managed 306 runs at a strike rate below 125. Even Kartik Sharma, after taking time to settle into the senior league, has scored 244 runs at a strike rate of 134.

A glance through SRH’s batting line-up reveals that none of its batters has struck at under 150. Heinrich Klaasen is third on the tournament’s top run-getters list with a strike rate of 153.93, while opener Travis Head, despite an inconsistent season, is still scoring at 171.

Among the bowlers, the Sunrisers are running high on the youth energy of their fast bowlers, Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain. In the reverse fixture, the two quicks displayed tremendous control over yorkers and off cutters to win the game by 10 runs.

This time as well, the Chepauk surface – pitch no. 5, black soil – could help cutters on the back of the length do wonders. It’s the same pitch that was used against Mumbai Indians, where the home side chased down a 160-run target with ease. The team winning the toss could look to bowl first.

For Hyderabad, the challenge will be adapting to the Chepauk surface. In night games, the two-paced nature of the surface will offer grip to the spinners like Noor Ahmad and Akeal Hosein. All SRH’s batters need is a slight adjustment in bat swing and timing. If they settle in – which they couldn’t in Ahmedabad last week – things could unravel very quickly for the CSK bowlers.

Eventually, the game will be a test of conviction: whether Hyderabad’s high-risk approach brings high rewards or Chennai’s ability to adapt allows it to live to fight another day.

Published on May 17, 2026