The South Indian derby between the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK), to be hosted by Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, on Friday, has come under a cloud of uncertainty, as the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) on Friday informed that electricity supply to the stadium had been restored while the power department denied the claim.
Earlier, the elctricity department cut power supply to the arena, also known as the Uppal Stadium, over unpaid dues amounting to over Rs 3 crore.
Through an official release on Friday, the president's office of the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) claimed there was no threat to the South derby as the IPL clash will go ahead as scheduled.
However, an officer in the electricity department said the dues haven't been cleared, adding that if the payment wasn't made by Friday evening, power supply to the venue would be snapped.
"The HCA has run up dues and we issued them a notice earlier over unpaid tariff. We gave them 24 hours to reply to our notice and clear the dues. If the bill isn't cleared by this evening, electricity supply to the stadium will be disconnected," the official said.
After losing to Delhi Capitals (DC) by 20 runs in their previous clash in the ongoing IPL season, defending champions CSK currently sit third on the points table with 4 points after two wins and one loss, with the net run rate at +0.976.
The Sunrisers will also go into this clash on the back of a 7-wicket loss to last year's losing finalists, Gujarat Titans (GT). They are currently at the seventh place on the IPL standings, with just two points. Their first and only win of the ongoing IPL season came against five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
They prevailed over the visitors in a run feast, winning by 31 runs.
