Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) are tipped to have a slight edge over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in their crucial Indian Premier League 2025 (IPL 2025) match scheduled at M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on April 25, according to former India cricketer Aakash Chopra.
While Chopra pointed out the struggle of both sides in the ongoing IPL season, stating that they are in the same boat, he kept SRH ahead on man-to-man marking.
"Hyderabad are aboard the same boat as Chennai. If we do man-to-man marking, I would say the scales are still tilted a little towards Hyderabad. However, very little to choose between the two. Both are playing an ordinary brand of cricket," Chopra said as quoted on his YouTube channel.
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In their previous match against Mumbai Indians (MI), SRH brought in Abhinav Manohar as their Impact Player to arrest the collapse when they were reeling at 35 runs for the loss of five wickets. This meant that Mohammad Shami did not make it to the playing XI.
Chopra opined on this, asserting that this reflects the kind of season it has been for both SRH and Shami, who has taken only five wickets so far, leaking runs at an economy of over 10.
"They (SRH) said last time that Jaydev Unadkat, Zeeshan Ansari and Harshal Patel are more valuable to them than Shami in bowling because they didn't keep Shami in the XI. They kept him in the substitutes, and when there was a collapse in batting, Abhinav Manohar came in, and Shami was out."
"It is also a reflection on how Shami's season has been. It has been absolutely cold. They had thought about upgrading their bowling. They let Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar Kumar) go as his last year wasn't good. So they brought in Harshal Patel and Mohammad Shami. They actually were thinking in the right direction, but it's not turned out to be that way," Chopra added.
Also read: CSK vs SRH Match Preview & Where to Watch Live? IPL 2025 Match 43
Aakash Chopra Explains SRH’s Batting Woes
Further in the video, the cricketer-turned-commentator talked about SRH’s batting concerns. He elaborated that their batting unit has rarely done well in unison, and this is what he believes has been the reason behind their poor run in the IPL 2025.
"Bowling is not the problem. Batting is the problem. In batting, whoever's name you take, you feel he hasn't done well. (Heinrich) Klaasen played well in the last match. Abhishek Sharma played well one day. Aniket Verma played well in one match. Ishan Kishan played well in one match. Travis Head has played well in two or two-and-a-half matches, but that's about it."
"They have played well together in just two matches, one was the first match against the Rajasthan Royals, and the other was the run chase they did against the Punjab Kings. Nitish Kumar Reddy hasn't played well in any match. The huge investments have failed to deliver, and that has been their problem," Chopra concluded.
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This is a must-win game for both CSK and SRH. One more loss will all but end their chances of qualifying for the playoffs. At the moment, CSK is at the bottom of the IPL 2025 points table with two wins in eight matches. SRH is a position above their opponents, also winning just two of their eight games.
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