Dubai: Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will take on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
CSK have registered 4 wins from the 12 matches they have played and are coming into this game on the back of a convincing eight-wicket win against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Meanwhile, KKR have won and lost 6 matches each and this will be their first game since their eight-wicket defeat against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP).
KKR had come out on top in these two teams’ last encounter after pulling back the things in the middle overs and they will be looking to have an encore of that result. On the other hand, CSK will be looking to make amends and beat KKR to level the head-to-head results of the season.
Ruturaj Gaikwad looked in the zone, played some delightful strokes and registered his maiden IPL fifty to take CSK across the finish line against RCB and justified his selection at the top of the batting line-up. The right-hander will be looking to have another impressive outing with the bat when CSK face KKR.
The ball pretty much flew off his bat in KKR’s last game against KXIP. While wickets fell around him at the start and at the death, Shubman Gill scored a well-compiled 57 off 45 balls, hitting 3 fours and 4 sixes. The right-hander, who opens the batting, has 378 runs to his name this IPL season and will be key to KKR’s fortunes against CSK.
The Curran-Chahar duo shared five wickets between them as CSK beat RCB. While Sam Curran scalped three wickets in his three overs, Deepak Chahar picked two wickets. The two will be expected to repeat that performance as CSK look to register their second win on the bounce.
After KKR lost three early wickets against KXIP, Eoin Morgan, with Gill for company, counterattacked. The KKR skipper scored a quickfire 40 off 25 balls. As KKR seek to return to winning ways, they will bank on their captain to come good with the bat once again.
With an economy rate below six, Lockie Ferguson has picked six wickets from four matches he has played this season. The right-arm pacer will be looking to add a few more wickets to his tally as KKR take on CSK in Dubai.
Squads
Kolkata Knight Riders Squad: Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi, Dinesh Karthik(w), Eoin Morgan(c), Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, Lockie Ferguson, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russell, Kuldeep Yadav, Sandeep Warrier, Siddhesh Lad, Nikhil Naik, Tim Seifert, Chris Green, Rinku Singh, Ali Khan, Tom Banton, Shivam Mavi, Manimaran Siddharth
Chennai Super Kings Squad: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Faf du Plessis, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni(w/c), N Jagadeesan, Sam Curran, Ravindra Jadeja, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Imran Tahir, Monu Kumar, Shane Watson, Kedar Jadhav, Piyush Chawla, Murali Vijay, Karn Sharma, Lungi Ngidi, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, KM Asif, Shardul Thakur, Josh Hazlewood
