CSK vs KKR 2021: With the winning momentum KKR has got, they will be playing in an aggressive fashion. While MS Dhoni and their CSK hold an edge over KKR.
Chennai Super Kings are at the top of the table with 14 points and if they win today they will guarantee a place in the playoffs.
While their opponent and the 2012 and 2014 IPL champions, KKR, are at the fourth spot with eight points. Winning this match will make sure they maintain their top-four spot.
Varun Chakravarthy‘s extra bounce and unpredictable angles will keep the Chennai Super Kings batsmen on tenterhooks as they take on Kolkata Knight Riders in a high-octane Indian Premier League encounter.
While for the yellow army, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Faf du Plessis, and Ambati Rayudu are in top-notch form. Dwayne Bravo will be the key bowling option for them as his T20 experience is immense. His slower will ask some tough questions to the KKR youngsters.
Kolkata Knight Riders’ middle order is not yet tested in the second phase so far. But if CSK can get early wickets, Morgan has to step up, along with Rana, and Karthik.
Chennai’s issues are that they have no issues. Their bowling is performing along with a well-set batting order. Just that new ball spells should be tightened a bit more.
Pitch Report of CSK vs KKR 2021
It’s the same pitch that was used yesterday between Delhi and Rajasthan. The pitch looks very dry, it has been rolled and looks okay. It will get slower as the game progresses. The slower bouncers will be effective on this wicket, reckons Laxman Sivaramakrishnan.
Extreme levels of humidity and a gripping surface. In IPL 2020, teams batting first scored an average score of 165 in the afternoon games in this venue, with two wins each for the team batting first and second, while one went to the Super Over.
Kolkata Knight Riders have won the toss and have opted to bat
Playing 11.
Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Faf du Plessis, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Josh Hazlewood.
Dhoni: We have one change, Curran comes in for Bravo. He had a few niggles in the CPL. The support staff is very important. Having experienced players in the side helps. In IPL it’s about managing the combination.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan (capt), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Lockie Ferguson, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy.
Pre-match interviews CSK vs KKR 2021.
Morgan: We are going to bat first, we don’t have any changes. Will be a different challenge as it’s a day game. There’s more pace in it as compared to the last year. In this sort of heat, it might get slower.
Faf: I walked in here today and I realised the last time I was here was when I picked up my concussion. So it’s probably not the best start to the day so it can only get better from there hopefully. Took a long time – four months to get through that. Still having neck issues from that incident but nothing that’s going to keep me off the park. MS asked me how am I to do those high pocket areas and I said I’m good to go. Especially the last time we were in Dubai we felt we needed to make some improvements. Our team balance is better from that point of view. Our batting lineup is also better suited than what it was a year or two ago. We bat very very deep. Have got a lot of guys coming in and attacking straightaway. If you look at guys like Rayudu and Moeen coming in at three and four – they come in and keep the pressure on. At the top, me and Ritu try to assess conditions and get us off to a good start. Heat (what do you expect?). First day game for us so it’ll be pretty hot. Different conditions – we haven’t played here in this leg yet.
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