Cricket fans in Hyderabad tonight at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium for the IPL match between the Sunrisers Hyderabad and the Chennai Super Kings displayed a unique fusion of fandom.
Posters featuring Chennai Super Kings' MS Dhoni, the veteran wicket-keeper batsman, were seen alongside Telugu superstar Mahesh Babu. This creative display highlights the crossover between cricket and cinema in India, particularly in Hyderabad where both Dhoni and Mahesh Babu enjoy immense popularity. The posters went viral on social media, creating a buzz among fans and showcasing the combined craze for both icons.
Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins won the toss and elected to field first in their IPL 2024 match against the Chennai Super Kings in Hyderabad.
Cummins, a right-arm fast bowler, said the wicket looked good and expected it to play similarly throughout the innings. Both teams made changes to their lineups coming off defeats in their previous matches. Hyderabad lost to the Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad, while the defending champions, Chennai, suffered their first loss of the season to the Delhi Capitals in a high-scoring match in Vizag.
Cummins announced that Nitish Reddy and T. Natarajan replaced Mayank Agarwal, who was unwell. "We'll bowl first," he said. "Looks like a good wicket and should stay the same for the whole match. We've got a great squad. Mayank Agarwal is unwell, he's replaced by Nitish Reddy. Natarajan is back as well. Last time, there were 500 runs scored, this looks like a good wicket as well."
Chennai captain Ruturaj Gaikwad said he felt good despite the loss to the Capitals and announced that Moeen Ali, Maheesh Theekshana, and Mukesh Choudhary were included in the playing XI. "It's going pretty well, the group is responding well," Gaikwad said. "Nothing much changes for me, obviously this is a new challenge, but I'm feeling good. Pathirana has a niggle - three changes for us, Moeen Ali, Theekshana and Mukesh Choudhary come in. The bowlers are ready to go and so are the youngsters."
Here are the playing XIs:
Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Rachin Ravindra, Ajinkya Rahane, Moeen Ali, Daryl Mitchell, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (wk), Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Abdul Samad, Nitish Reddy, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins (c), Jaydev Unadkat, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, T. Natarajan