Red-hot CSK to test KKR’s prowess to the fullest!

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) takes on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Wednesday (07th October) in the 21st match of the ongoing IPL-2020 at Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Watson and du Plessis, the openers, hit 80+ runs each as CSK decimated Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) on Sunday by overhauling the target with all the ten wickets intact.  In-form CSK is expected to keep the winning momentum going against the Dinesh Karthik-led KKR, which lost its last league match against the Virat Kohli-led RCB. 

CSK bank on openers 

Whether it chases or sets a target, CSK would once again be looking up to its red-hot opening duo of Watson and du Plessis to give it a flying start.  Rayudu, who scored a duck in his last outing, would be looking to make amends. 

Dhoni to go back to No.6?

Though he has been batting up the order in the last few matches, ‘Captain Cool’ MS Dhoni appears to have lost (some percentage of) the ability to finish matches.  The ‘greatest finisher’ in the game, who clearly struggled in the excessive heat while batting, is likely to go back to his usual No.6 slot mainly to silence his critics if not for anything else. 

Time for Jadeja, Bravo to deliver 

Seniors Dwayne Bravo and Ravindara Jadeja haven’t been having a great tourney so far, though Jadeja showed glimpses of his hitting prowess during CSK’s loss against SRH. ‘Death bowling’ has also been a concern with Bravo going for runs; MSD doesn’t change the playing XI so quickly, thus giving a long handle to all the players including Kedar Jadhav who needs to do something usefully to justify his presence in the team.  Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur are performing well. 

Opening blues for KKR 

KKR’s ‘Sunil Narine’ experiment in the opener’s slot has misfired very badly.  DK admitted to it during a recent chat and might consider sending Banton or Morgan to open along with Shubman Gill, another mightily talented (future India) star who hasn’t delivered the goods so far as expected. With his hitting prowess coming to the fore in the last match, Rahul Tripathi deserves to be sent up the order. 

KKR has also leaked runs aplenty in ‘death overs’; Pat Cummins’ bowling form is not at its peak.  Mavi and Nagarkoti, though, have been doing well in bowling, batting and fielding as well.  Kuldeep Yadav has been under-utilized by DK who prefers less-experienced Varun Chakravarthy. 

CSK leads 

CSK leads the 22 head-to-head clashes by 14-8 and is expected to keep the lead on Wednesday’s match too.  CSK has scored 205 and 55 as its maximum and minimum scores against KKR. 

Expected XI: 

CSK: Watson, du Plessis, Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni, Dwayne Bravo, Jadeja, Sam Curran, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar and Piyush Chawla.

KKR:  Shubman Gill, Sunil Narine, Nitish Rana, Andre Russel, Dinesh Karthik, Ion Morgan, Rahul Tripathi, Pat Cummins, Shivam Mavi, Nagarkoti and Varun Chakravarthy.