Two of the most successful teams in the League Chennai SuperKings and Kolkata Knight Riders are ready to fight in this year’s edition for the first time. Both teams are having four points but the difference is the Net run rate in which KKR have a bit of advantage. Chennai’s team has won their last match with a style. The comeback performances of Shane Watson and du Plessis have given them a Huge boost in their confidence. But after the match as their coach Fleming said that the sloppy efforts in the fielding department is very alarming. Yellow army’s another headache is the form of Kedar Jadhav. Jadhav is looking quite lost in this edition. But the return of Dwayne Bravo is a big positive for CSK. Bowling department is now looking certain after the Bravo’s entry. After the tremendous 10-Wicket win against KingsXI, SuperKings won’t want to halt their pace now.
After the last match the camp of Kolkata Knight Riders is in big dilemma. Their batting order isn’t still decided. Eoin Morgan’s outstanding form and Rahul Tripathi’s impressive performance in last match are become a good tension for team management. Ideally Tripathi is an opener and the team management and captain should send him in the opening spot. Considering the form they should also lift the batting order up of Eoin Morgan. After the back to back failures it’s high time for management to send Narine on his natural batting position. So far the main question for KKR is the confusion in batting order. Some major changes can turn the table for Karthik’s lads.
Pitch Report-
The ground will be the same which has been used for the Mumbai Indians and Rajsthan Royals match. It would be interesting to watch that if the pitch will be same or not. With the probability of Dew factor most teams are opting bat first here, this edition’s results are also supporting the decision. Both teams will be eyed for bat first here.
Match Prediction-
Going by the head to head records, CSK is having distinct advantage on KKR. Total 23 matches played between both teams. Out of which 8 won by Kolkata Knight Riders and 14 by Chennai SuperKings. One ended with no results. Current form of both teams are suggesting a bit of mileage to the Knights. They just need a good batting combination to make difference but on the other side yellow brigade is suffering from on and off forms of their players. Although the Superking’s last match’s performance is quite splendid but on a whole Kolkata’s Knights have the upper hand in this battle.
Probable Playing 11-
Chennai SuperKings- Ms Dhoni (C, WK), Shane Watson, Faf du Plesis, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, Sam curran, Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul thakur, Deepak chahar, Piyush Chawla.
Kolkata Knight Riders- Dinesh Karthik (C, WK), Shubman Gill, Sunil Narine, Nitish Rana, Andre Russell, Eoin Morgan, Pat Cummins, Rahul Tripathi, Shivam Mavi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Varun Chakravarthy.
Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi-
Total T20 Matches Played-18
Matches Won by Teams Batting First – 9
Matches Won by Teams Batting Second– 9