IPL 2023: CSK vs KKR | Chennai eyeing two points to improve play-off chances; Kolkata in a must win situation
Chennai Super Kings will look to seal their play-off chances when they face Kolkata Knight Riders in Chennai on May 14, 2023 | Photo Credit: B. Jothi Ramalingam
Four-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will take on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in an Indian Premier League match in Chennai on May 14 looking to win and boost their chances of sealing a play-offs berth.
Super Kings with 15 points (12 matches) are better placed to make it to the next stage, while KKR (10 points) need to win their two remaining games and hope other results come their way. way.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team will come into the match with two wins on the bounce and, as usual, will be tough to beat in their ‘den’.
Even a few sixes from Dhoni’s bat are enough to rattle the Chepauks and he did that in the previous match against Delhi Capitals, which proved crucial.
For the home team, opening batters Devon Conway (420 runs) and Ruturaj Gaikwad provide a solid start. Ajinkya Rahane and Shivam Dube have benefited from the clarity of roles assigned to them and have become important cogs in the CSK batting line-up.
On a slow pitch, which saw the batters struggling, Dube produced some big hits and he is eyeing an encore on Sunday.
Although Moeen Ali, Ravindra Jadeja and Ambati Rayudu did not have the desired impact, the Super Kings prevailed.
The bowlers, Matheesha Pathirana in particular, have done the job for the skipper. Tushar Deshpande, though expensive, took wickets. The spinners — Jadeja, Moeen and Maheesh Theekshana — have been effective in putting the squeeze on the opposition batters as the Delhi team found out on Wednesday.
KKR also fancy their chances based on the presence of spinners, who have made an impact. How Varun Chakravarthy and leg-spinner Suyash Sharma bowl on Sunday will decide the outcome of the match. The experienced Sunil Narine has been off-color for a large part of the IPL season and will be looking to make changes.
Skipper Nitish Rana and Venkatesh Iyer have been performing better in the batting line-up and KKR will expect the openers to give a solid start so that others can build on that.
However, this is easier said than done with Pathirana expected to have a say in proceedings with his mix of yorkers and slower pace. Jadeja can be a bowler that opposition batters will be wary of, as he never gives them time and is usually accurate.
The Knight Riders will have to put behind the hammering at the hands of Rajasthan Royals on Thursday and approach Sunday’s fixture with a positive mindset. A loss in the future could hurt their chances of advancing in the tournament.
Groups:
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (c & wk), Akash Singh, Moeen Ali, Bhagath Varma, Deepak Chahar, Devon Conway, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Sisanda Magala, Ajay Mandal, Matheesha Pathirana, Dwaine Pretorius, Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rasheed, Ambati Rayudu, Mitchell Santner, Subhranshu Senapati, Simarjeet Singh, Nishant Sindhu, Prashant Solanki, Ben Stokes, Maheesh Theekshana.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Nitish Rana (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Jason Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Anukul Roy, Rinku Singh, N. Jagadeesan, Vaibhav Arora, Suyash Sharma, David Wiese, Kulwant Khejroliya, Mandeep Singh, Aarya Desai and Johnson Charles.
Match starts: 7:30 pm.
