It's Hyderabad bowling v Chennai's batting today

Bhuvneshwar Kumar‏

For anyone who believes T20 cricket ceases to be a fair contest between bat and ball, the clash between Hyderabad and Chennai here today promises to be their myth-buster. While SRH and Chennai are both nip and tuck on the points table, they have taken contrasting routes to get there, with one relying on miserly bowling and the other on brute force with the bat.

Hyderabad have been more sophisticated, methodical and clinical, especially with the ball, exemplified by the convincing nature of their wins. In the four matches thus far, only once have SRH had to resort to using a part-timer in Deepak Hooda, and that was against a rampaging Chris Gayle in Mohali. But for majority of the tournament, their five genuine bowlers have done a splendid job each time. However, they have holes to plug in the batting department which with the exception of Shikhar Dhawan and Kane Williamson to a degree has not quite come to the party collectively.

Chennai, on the other hand, have required sparks of individual brilliance to take them home in each of their victories. It started with Dwayne Bravo in Mumbai, Sam Billings in Chennai and Shane Watson in Pune. The pattern has repeated unabatingly. These defining performances have tended to be the difference between a tight win and an agonising loss for the men in yellow. They are a batting- heavy side, a fact reiterated by their average total of 192.25 this season, which is comfortably the highest for any team.

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