21 April, 2021
Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

Will CSK extend its winning run against KKR?

Observers and cricket experts are of the firm opinion that Chennai Super Kings (CSK) has been rediscovering its lost (winning) touch in this year’s IPL, which has been scheduled in such a manner that none of the eight participating teams gets to play in home conditions even once.

CSK’s good run continues

IPL-VIX, which takes place amid a serious spread of the second wave of coronavirus pandemic, is indeed a great stress-buster to millions of sports-lovers across the globe in general and in India in particular. CSK’s first three games indicate its keenness to put behind its back last year’s below-par showing. As on date, CSK is placed second on the points tally with 2 wins out of 3 matches and enjoys a far better net run rate (+1.194) than table-toppers RCB, which has won all its three matches thus far.

Moeen, Raina bolster the team

CSK’s facile wins against PBKS and RR haven’t been lauded in the usual manner by its legion of fans, who are still unable to digest the fact that their favourite team finished last in the points table last year and failed to make the play-offs stage. The fans are, however, buoyed by the team’s clinical performance in all the matches thus far. Inclusion of Moeen Ali and Suresh Raina (who wasn’t part of the team last year) seems to have done wonders to boost CSK’s morale.

Problems aplenty

KKR, on the other hand, has faltered twice while chasing in its last two matches. It’s a team which has one of the best bowling and batting line-ups in the tournament, like 5-times title-winners Mumbai Indians (MI). KKR has a strong opening combination, strong middle-order and a strong lower order plus impactful bowlers. Despite the presence of many such players, KKR (title-winners in 2012 and 2014) somehow struggles to win its matches on a frequent basis.

Pressure on Cummins, Prasiddh

Cummins and Prasiddh have to take the workload of bowling the ‘death’ overs, a task which has been shared by Andre Russel in the last two matches. Russel picked an unexpected fifer in a match but was plundered in KKR’s match against RCB, with de Villiers taking a special liking to his deliveries. Harbhajan, Shakib and Chakravarthy, the spinning trio, has to keep a consistent line for KKR to curtail its opponents.

Misfiring Morgan

Morgan, England’s T20 and ODI skipper who took over KKR’s reins from ‘keeper Dinesh Karthik this year, hasn’t fired to his fullest capacity, which would obviously worry the team management. Test opener Shubman Gill too hasn’t found his wanton touch thus far. The likes of (Nitish) Rana and (Rahul) Tripathi are scoring majorly for KKR these days. Russel had a pretty ordinary year in 2020 with the bat and the team would now expect him certainly to fire on all cylinders right from the word 'go'.

The clash between CSK and KKR promises to be a gripping encounter, in all probability.

Expected line-up:

CSK: Ruturaj, du Plessis, Moeen Ali, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja, MSD, Sam Curran, Dwayne Bravo, Shadrul Thakur & Deepak Chahar

KKR: Nitish Rana, Gill, Tripathi, Eoin Morgan, Dinesh Karthik, Shakib-Al-Hasan, Andre Russel, Pat Cummins, Harbhajan, Prasiddh Krishna & Varun Chakravarthy