Kolkata Knight Riders vs Chennai Super Kings, Indian Premier League (IPL), Today Match Prediction 14 Apr 2019

kkr vs csk Match Prediction & Analysis

Chennai Super Kings has been the most consistent team in the IPL history and their ability to win from any situation is the main reason behind it. Last match they were down 24/4 in the end of powerplay chasing a target of 152 runs on a sluggish wicket.

MS Dhoni and Ambati Rayudu combined together and scored their respective fifties, but failed to complete the chase. Big hits from Ravindra Jadeja and Mitchell Santner in the last over helped them chase the total with the last ball six. Shane Watson and Suresh Raina`s form a big worry for CSK in their batting order. Deepak Chahar has been excellent bowling at an economy rate of less than 6 RPO and taking wickets in the powerplay. Dhoni has been excellent in using his spin resources with the likes of Jadeja, Santner, Bhajji and Imran Tahir and they are responding well to their captain`s call. Death bowling has their weak link with runs given away at a high rate towards the end of the innings. We can expect changes in CSK line-up with Dhoni promising to give everyone chance in last match presentation.

Kolkata Knight Riders have lost two back to back matches after starting the tournament well. Delhi chased down 180 runs at Eden gardens last match on the back of Shikhar Dhawan`s masterful 97*.  Shubman Gill opened the batting last match and set the match on fire with his belligerent 65 runs and he may own the opening slot for quite a long time.

Robin Uthappa and Nitish Rana are faltering after playing some vital knocks in the first 3-4 matches this season. Andre Russell is in some form hitting the ball at his will out the park. He has scored over 300 runs at strike rate of 200. Lockie Ferguson and Carlos Brathwaite were not effective with their bowling. Kuldeep Yadav and Piyush Chawla have been good economically but are not able make inroads with wickets in the opposition line-up. Bowling has been their biggest worry with no one able to make a mark so far in the tournament. 

TEAMS PREVIEW

Kolkata Knight Riders Preview

Key Players:

Shubman Gill – The young Shubman Gill owned the opening slot when he got the chance first time and his form at the top will be an added advantage to the KKR team. Gill scored 65 runs at a strike rate of nearly 170. 

Andre Russell –Russell is the billion dollar man for KKR this season so far and he has scored over 40 runs whenever he has stepped onto bat this season. He has having amazing consistency striking at a rate of over 200. His bowling may come in handy for KKR. 

Stats from the season

Andre Russell - 302 runs, Strike rate – 212, HS -62, 50s-2 & 6 wickets, Eco – 9.7RPO,BB – 2/21

Piyush Chawla – 4 wickets, Economy – 8 RPO, BB – 1/23

 

Kolkata Knight Riders Predicted Playing XI:

Joe Denly, Shubman Gill, Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik (c & wk), Andre Russell, Carlos Brathwaite/Matt Kelly, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson/Sunil Narine, Prasidh Krishna

Kolkata Knight Riders Actual Playing XI:

Sunil Narine, RV Uthappa, Dinesh Karthik, Shubman Gill, Chris Lynn, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Piyush Chawla, Harry Gurney, Andre Russell

Chennai Super Kings Preview

Key Players:

MS Dhoni – Dhoni is having an excellent 2019 scoring runs in both international and IPL. He has been the best batsmen for CSK this season and has already won 2 MoM`s this season.

Deepak Chahar – Chahar has been the excellent swing bowler using the conditions effectively. He might enjoy bowling with the new ball in Eden Gardens which aids fast bowlers. 

Stats from the season

MS Dhoni -214 runs, Strike rate – 128, HS -75*, 50s- 2

Imran Tahir – 9 wickets, Economy – 5.6 RPO, BB – 3/9

 

Chennai Super Kings Predicted Playing XI:

Shane Watson/Sam Billings, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Kedar Jadhav, Ambati Rayudu, Faf Du Plessis, Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur/Mohit Sharma, Mitchell Santner/Scott Kuggleijn

Chennai Super Kings Actual Playing XI:

Imran Tahir, Ambati Rayudu, SR Watson, Deepak Chahar, SN Thakur, Ravindra Jadeja, Mitchell Santner, Faf du Plessis, Suresh Raina, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni

Weather Conditions

Eden Gardens is one of good pitches in India where batsmen will enjoy batting. Pace bowlers may have good carry and bounce with the new ball. Scores over 180 runs is considered as average here and anything less than that will be chased down easily. In fact 178 has been the lowest score recorded here this year

Toss: WIN the toss, BOWL First

Teams have opted to bowl first here in all the three matches and have won two out of three matches. Any score is not safe here and batting will be pushing themselves to chase down opposition total.