Live Blog - SRH keep CSK to 165 on slow pitch

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Choudhary is bowling like someone who is playing his first competitive game since December 2022. His first over included a full-toss on off, a half-volley on leg stump, a short ball on the hips and even a front-foot no-ball. You can't go searching for swing on this pitch. You got to hit that in-between length. Mukesh ends up leaking 27 runs in his first over to Abhishek

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He has also worked on remedying his weakness against the short ball. He can also pitch in with the ball. "It is not about pace," WV Raman had told ESPNcricinfo's Nagraj Gollapudi. "It's about variations he can conjure and how he can implement them. He has developed the back-of-the-hand delivery and he also rolls his fingers on the offcutter. He has time to develop at least one more variation, possibly a yorker or a slow bouncer. If he can get reasonable control over these deliveries, because of his height he can pose an awkward challenge for the batter. Because of his tall stature, the yorker becomes difficult [to hit] and the slower bouncer, too, can be difficult for the batter to gain any control [against] and play an attacking shot."

CSK batting coach Mike Hussey on Dube: "Well, you rewind to maybe one or two years ago, teams would come in and bowl a lot of short balls and he would either duck out of the way or defend. And that's all he had until he got in and set and then he could maybe play some shots against it.

"Now the bowlers are still coming in with the same plan, but he's been able to score off it as well and he's been able to find boundaries, if he gets into the right position as well. So that's a testament to the work that he's put in behind the scenes and being ready for their plans. And now it's, you know, back on the bowlers. What are they going to do? Now, are they going to continue with this plan, or will they go away from that? And try something else? We'll have to wait and see, but I think a lot of credit needs to go to Dube for the amount of work that he's put in against that particular ball."

Cummins has kept Dube to 3 off 6 balls.

At the other end, Rahane is struggling to find a higher gear on what looks like a two-paced Hyderabad track.

Cummins has sussed out the conditions. He digs a slower ball into the pitch and hides it away from the reach of Dube.

The batter simply throws his hands at the ball and plops a catch to backward point. Dube is gone for 45 off 24 balls.

No Mitchell yet. CSK bring in another left-hander - Jadeja. They are 120 for 3 in 14 overs.

In the next over, Unadkat bests Rahane with a 105kph slower variation. He's gone for 35 off 30 balls. CSK are now 127 for 5 in 15 overs.

2h ago

Left-arm fingerspinner Shahaz Ahmed has Gaikwad losing his shape and dragging a catch to long-on for 26 off 21, with his first ball. Expect Dube to slot in at to No.4 to counter Shahbaz and Markande. Yes, indeed, here's Dube. At the other end is Rahane, a pace-hitter. Sid Monga explains how CSK have become a batting behemoth by pairing up opposites.

Dube sprints to 25 off ten balls, all ten bowled by spinners, including two fours and two sixes. "Dube has 26 off 11 balls vs SLA this season - all three times he's faced SLA, he has walked out after a wicket off the first (twice) or second (once) ball of an over," Matt Roller points out. So nobody has ever chosen to bowl an SLA while he's been at the crease, but still haven't been able to escape."

3h ago

This game isn't being played on the pitch that served up 277 for 3 vs 246 for 5. Bhuvneshwar found swing in the early exchanges. Abhishek also swung his arm ball in the first over. When Bhuvneshwar slanted one away from Ravindra's swinging arc, he had him flapping a catch to mid-on for his first wicket in IPL 2024.

Rahane, though, gets cracking in the powerplay, hitting both Cummins and Bhuvneshwar over the top. Captain Gaikwad is also off to a quick start. He closes out the powerplay with a straight six off Bhuvneshwar. CSK are 48 for 1 in six overs.

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SRH opt to chase. Mayank Agarwal is out with illness, with Nitish Kumar Reddy, who was in fine form during the Ranji Trophy, replacing him. SRH also have their designated death bowler T Natarajan back from injury.

CSK, however, will be without Mustafizur, who has returned to Bangladesh to sort out his US visa, and Pathirana, who is out with a niggle. Theekshana, Moeen and Mukesh Choudhary are all in. This is Choudhary's first competitive game since December 2022. He has since recovered from rib and lower-back injuries. Choudhary hasn't been listed in CSK's XI but could come in as their XIIth player, replacing Dube, when they bowl later in the night.

SRH: 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Aiden Markram, 3 Heinrich Klaasen(wk), 4 Abdul Samad, 5 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 6 Shahbaz Ahmed, 7 Pat Cummins(capt),8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Mayank Markande, 10 Jaydev Unadkat, T Natarajan

Impact Subs: Washington Sundar, Umran Malik, Travis Head, Glenn Phillips, Rahul Tripathi

CSK: 1 Ruturaj Gaikwad(capt),2 Rachin Ravindra, 3 Ajinkya Rahane, 4 Moeen Ali, 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 MS Dhoni(wk), 9 Deepak Chahar, 10 Tushar Deshpande, 11 Maheesh Theekshana

Impact Subs: Mukesh Choudhary, Shardul Thakur, Shaik Rasheed, Mitch Santner, Sameer Rizvi

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The last time Hyderabad hosted an IPL game, SRH smashed the highest total in IPL history, but at one point it appeared like it might not be safe enough against MI. Captains Cummins and Unadkat finished the job that night for SRH.

SRH will host CSK tonight at the Rajiv Gandhi stadium. Head, Abhishek, Markram, Klaasen and Samad in the orange corner. Ravindra, Dube, Mitchell, Jadeja and Dhoni in the yellow corner. This should be fun