Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will meet Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. Chennai is 2nd and Kolkata is 8th in the points table.
Kolkata is having very little chance for the qualification of playoffs. They have 10 points in 12 matches and if they lose against CSK then they will be eliminated. Chennai on the other hand if they win against KKR then they climb to the top of the points table. They have 15 points in 12 matches.
Knight Riders got a solid pair of Jason Roy and Rahmanullah Gurbaz. Their combined performance is still missing. To go out and perform they need to perform together so that they not only get a good start but also the team might be able to post a high score.
PC: Google
Super Kings were looking pretty good as both of their openers provided a solid run partnership which later on carried by the remaining players and they posted a solid score. Devon Conway, the leading run scorer from the side, made 468 runs till now. Ruturaj Gaikwad is chasing next to him and has made 408 runs till now.
Venkatesh Iyer contributed some solid runs against RR and made 57 runs. But despite this team wasn’t able to post a high score and as a result they were defeated by RR by 9 wickets. He is also the leading scorer from the team and contributed 371 runs till now. In the last few matches he was looking a little out of touch but against Rajasthan he plays some beautiful shots and gets his rhythm back.
Nitish Rana’s in and out form is constant due to which the team is sometimes unable to put up a great show. He has got a lot of talent in batting but still something is lacking due to which his performance was not so up to the mark.
Ajinkya Rahane wasn’t able to score much in his last 3 matches. But he carries a destructive potential which he shows in this show and further destruction is expected by the team. He plays brilliantly in the middle overs and along with his strike rate, he carries the team scores like a bullet. Shivam Dube also showed his fierceful batting in between the overs. He hits back to 3 sixes in an over against DC, where the team is struggling to make runs and he suddenly changes the momentum from there.
PC: Google
Kolkata hit the most number of sixes in this IPL season. They have hit 114 sixes till now. Thanks to their finishers mainly. Rinku Singh and Andre Russell like mainly to talk with the sixes they hit. Rinku Singh already showed some of his brilliant innings in this season and is one of the strong contenders for the uncapped emerging player. Russell also gets some hits in the end and makes the scorecard go up.
Chennai is 3rd in the list of six hitting and have hit 100 sixes till now. MS Dhoni already had a record of most number of sixes in the 20th over. Dhoni played only a few balls but those balls were mostly seen out of the ground. His clinical hits are lovely to watch. Ravindra Jadeja still did not contribute much in the death overs but still he carried the image of destruction in the slog overs.
KKR mainly struggles in the pace department. None of the pacers showed impactful performance in this season. Their spinners are the only reason to get some wickets. They contributed more than 50% of the wickets in this season for the team.
Varun Chakravarthy grabbed 17 wickets till now in the tournament. Suyash Sharma comes 2nd in the list for the team and he also shows some impactful bowling spells in his inaugural season. Sunil Narine started the season pretty well but later on he was unable to take wickets and went expensive in his spells mostly.
Tushar Despande is the leading wicket taker from CSK this season till now. He clinched 19 wickets but had an economy of over 10. Despite getting wickets he was seen expensive mostly in death overs. Ravindra Jadeja is 2nd most successful bowler in terms of wickets and he took 16 wickets till now. He has the best economy (7.14) in the list of purple cap. Deepak Chahar and Matheesha Pathirana also looked in great rhythm and took wickets in starting and death overs in the match.
Head to Head (KKR vs CSK):
Matches- 28
| CSK | KKR | |
| WON | 18 | 9 |
| HIGHEST SCORE | 235 | 202 |
| LOWEST SCORE | 114 | 108 |
Pitch Analysis:
Match will be played at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. It will be very hot and humid in the evening. Slow ballers might get a little bit of help but the batters will surely enjoy batting here in this pitch.
Probable playing 11 for CSK:
Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ajinkya Rahane, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Deepak Chahar, Maheesh Theekshana, Matheesha Pathirana, Tushar Despande.
Probable playing 11 for KKR:
Jason Roy, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana ©, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Varun Chakaravarthy, Suyash Sharma, Harshit Rana.
Predicted best 11 performers for the match:
Devon Conway, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ajinkya Rahane, Jason Roy, Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ravindra Jadeja, Andre Russell, Moeen Ali, Varun Chakaravarthy.