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Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abudhabi: The Chennai Super Kings (14 points) would like to dethrone Delhi Capitals (16) from the top of the points table again if they defeat the resurgent Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). CSK resumed their campaign for the IPL 2021 second phase where they left off. They will, however, be up against a team that has received a much-needed boost in the form of Venkatesh Iyer, who has a strike rate of 177.4 in powerplay overs in his first two games. In powerplay overs, he has scored 76 per cent of his runs via boundaries.
CSK are in second position with 14 points from nine games; a win today will ensure their place in the playoffs. KKR, on the other hand, have only eight points from nine games. Therefore, they must win four out of their remaining five games to sit on the playoffs' couch. Moreover, skipper Morgan will be playing his 50th IPL match for KKR. Also, the southpaw needs 39 more runs to complete 1,000 runs while playing for KKR in IPL. His teammate Dinesh Karthik is approaching a milestone too as he needs 54 more runs to complete 4,000 IPL runs.
Head-to-head
Looking at the head-to-head track record of the franchises, they have played 23 matches out of which CSK have the upper hand with 15 wins while KKR has managed to win only 8. Both teams have played two IPL matches against each other in UAE and won one each. However, CSK have won four out of the last five matches against KKR.
Injury updates and player availability
Players from both sides are currently available and fit to participate. It will be interesting to watch if Sam Curran gets a chance today as Dwayne Bravo has been in red-hot form so far.
Battles to watch out for
Ruturaj Gaikwad vs Varun Chakravarthy
Gaikwad has had a fantastic run for CSK in the UAE leg but it would be intriguing to watch how how he tackles Chakravarthy, who hasn't let him score an easy run against him. Ruturaj has a strike rate of slightly over 95 and has scored 21 runs from 22 balls against him. Morgan may be inclined to his mystery spinner against the opener early on in powerplay overs.
MS Dhoni vs Sunil Narine
Skipper MSD has struggled against Narine. The stalwart has scored only 35 runs against him off 66 balls which is a sign of concern for his side. Moreover, Narine has managed to dismiss him as well. Morgan is likely to exploit Dhoni’s weakness again and introduce Narine straightway when Dhoni walks out to bat.
Andre Russell vs Dwayne Bravo
Another individual rivalry in which the KKR men's team has the upper hand is the two Caribbeans. Russell has a strike rate of 260 and has scored 78 runs off just 30 balls without losing his wicket to Bravo. Hence, when Russell is at the crease, MS may try to avoid bowling Bravo.
Suresh Raina vs Andre Russell
The Caribbean rockstar Russell has also dismissed Raina on a couple of occasions while Raina has scored just 22 runs off 17 balls he faced against him. We may see Russell bowling bumpers once again when Raina walks onto the bat.
Predicted Playing XIs
CSK: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Faf du Plessis, Moeen Ali, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Josh Hazlewood
KKR: Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan(c), Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik(w), Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakravarthy, Prasidh Krishna
