Kolkata Knight Riders will look to get back to winning ways as they host defending Champions Chennai Super Kings at the Eden Gardens on Sunday afternoon. With the home team desperate for a victory and the visitors looking to strengthen their position at the top of the table, this is certainly going to be a close contest.
The hosts were in a very good position about two games back as they had lost just one out of their five matches. However, they have lost two back to back matches now and that has given other teams a chance to catch up with them. The Knight Riders still sit at second position on the points table though. They still have the best net run rate in the league and that will play a crucial role towards the business end of the league. They made quite a few changes in the previous match. They dropped Chris Lynn, Harry Gurney and Sunil Narine for Joe Denly, Carlos Brathwaite and Lockie Ferguson. None of the moves played out well and that has given them some headaches as they gear up to face the high flying Super Kings on Sunday.
The visitors, on the other hand, have been in terrific form. They sit pretty at the top of the table with six victories to their name in seven matches. They have had their injury concerns but all their replacements have stepped up with good performances. That is something you can expect from
Kolkata Knight Riders will look to get back to winning ways as they host defending Champions Chennai Super Kings at the Eden Gardens on Sunday afternoon. With the home team desperate for a victory and the visitors looking to strengthen their position at the top of the table, this is certainly going to be a close contest.
The hosts were in a very good position about two games back as they had lost just one out of their five matches. However, they have lost two back to back matches now and that has given other teams a chance to catch up with them. The Knight Riders still sit at second position on the points table though. They still have the best net run rate in the league and that will play a crucial role towards the business end of the league. They made quite a few changes in the previous match. They dropped Chris Lynn, Harry Gurney and Sunil Narine for Joe Denly, Carlos Brathwaite and Lockie Ferguson. None of the moves played out well and that has given them some headaches as they gear up to face the high flying Super Kings on Sunday.
The visitors, on the other hand, have been in terrific form. They sit pretty at the top of the table with six victories to their name in seven matches. They have had their injury concerns but all their replacements have stepped up with good performances. That is something you can expect from the most successful franchise in IPL history. The way they won their last game against the Rajasthan Royals has lifted the spirit of the team further. Their batting unit is well balanced and so is their all-round strength. The bowling department is pretty average but skipper MS Dhoni knows how to maximize the utility of the resources available to him.
Weather and Pitch conditions: Clear weather is in forecast for Sunday. The pitch is excellent for batting. Scores of above 180 can be expected across both innings. Bowlers will have a pretty hard time here.
Player Recommendations:
Wicket-keeper: MS Dhoni (9 Cr)
The Super Kings skipper averages 52.38 at the Eden Gardens and an even better 64.13 against the Knight Riders. He can be expected to light up the venue once again as he returns to face one of his favourite teams.
Batsman: Faf du Plessis (9 Cr)
The South African international has been in very good form so far. He has two scores of 40 plus in three games thus far and one of them is a fifty as well. He is a consistent performer at the top of the order and can be expected to do well in this match too.
All-Rounder: Andre Russell (10 Cr)
The Jamaican has been in terrific all-round form this season. He continued his rampage in the previous match also as he scored 45 off just 21 deliveries and then claimed 1/29 with the ball.
Bowler: Deepak Chahar (8.5 Cr)
Chahar is the best available bowling option in this match. He picks up wickets consistently at the start of the innings and can be banked upon to give good returns in terms of economy rate as well.
Uncapped Player: Prasidh Krishna (8 Cr)
The Knight Riders pacer is the best Uncapped option available for this match. He bowls at speeds of 145 Kph consistently and is a very good bowler at the death too. On his day, he can tear apart oppositions.
Captain: Andre Russell
Vice-Captain: MS Dhoni
Predicted Playing XI:
KKR – Joe Denly, Sunil Narine, Nitish Rana, Robin Uthappa, Dinesh Karthik, Shubman Gill, Andre Russell, Piyush Chawla, Matt Kelly/Harry Gurney/Lockie Ferguson, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna
CSK — Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Imran Tahir
