The Kolkata Knight Riders host the Chennai Super Kings at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata in Match number 33 of the 11th edition of the Indian Premier League.
The Knight Riders have had a mixed bag kind of a tournament so far with four wins and as many losses in the 8 matches so far and would definitely fancy their chances of a place in the Play-Offs. However, in their most recent match against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, KKR tasted success and would be looking to transcend that success into their upcoming games. Nitish Rana seems to be a doubtful in this game and KKR can get somebody like a Ishank Jaggi or Rinku Singh in place of their middle order batsman (Rana) who seems to have a sore back.
The Chennai Super Kings on the other hand have lesser issues to address. They seem to spot a match winner every time they sense a trouble and have had the ability to finish off games and win the crucial moments of the match. With MS Dhoni’s cool and calm captaincy, Chennai Super Kings are more or less assured of a place in the final four and a team with assurance is far more threatening than one without.
Chris Lynn and skipper Dinesh Karthik would be the key batsmen as far as KKR is concerned and they would hope that Sunil Narine provides them a good start at the top of the order to give them the impetus which can be built upon by players like Robin Uthappa to follow. Chris Lynn has been good after his initial struggles in the tournament and KK would expect healthy contributions from his bat.
CSK’s batting line up is studded with men in form. Be it Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu or Suresh Raina everyone has been in good nick with the bat and is capable of changing the tide of the match with individual match winning performances. Even skipper MS Dhoni has been brilliant and has looked his good old self when finishing games. Dhoni’s performance has been a huge boost to CSK’s campaign this year.
The KKR Spinners would fancy their chances against CSK. This is because CSK batsmen have struggled against the slower bowlers in the past and in an Eden Garden wicket which is expected to offer a hint of something to the slower bowlers. The trio of Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav and Sunil Narine would be licking their lips by that prospect.
Lungi Ngidi was spot on for CSK and had a wonderful IPL debut the other night. One can expect another great show by him tonight. Veteran off spinner Harbhajan Singh has been instrumental in choking the opposition during the middle overs by not giving away any freebie to the opposition and making the opposition batsmen work hard for their runs. CSK spinners could be critical too tonight at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
A fascinating contest all the way from Eden Gardens, Kolkata. Broadcast Starts at 20:00 Hours (IST).
