Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super King have been the two best teams in the IPL so far – 5 matches played, 1 loss, 4 wins. That’s very good! KKR are at the top because of their higher net run rate.
The team that wins this clash will be seen as the biggest favorite to win IPL 2019. If KKR wins this, the odds on them winning the IPL will shoot up like anything. Same with CSK; which is why this match is so important.
This match will be played at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, which means CSK will have a huge home advantage. Most people would be cheering for Dhoni and his boys, but they will, at the same time, hope for some entertainment from Andre Russell – who has emerged as the most valuable cricketer on the planet.
Andre Russell is a once in a generation player – He bats like Chris Gayle, bowls like Mitchell Johnson and fields like Jonty Rhodes. It’s a pity that he has chosen not to play Test cricket. Had he done so, he would have been recognized as one of the greatest cricketers of all time – at par with Sir Gary Sobers.
But it’s not just Russell who has this incredible six hitting prowess. KKR have Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine at the top, who are every bit as explosive with the bat. The duo added 91 off only 8 overs in the last match against Rajasthan Royals, which made a mockery of the target score of the Rajasthan Royals score of 139.
Both KKR and CSK have high quality spinners. The track at MA Chidambaram Stadium has always been a slow turner, hard for stroke play and good for spinners. CSK have Harbhajan, Jadeja and Imran Tahir and KKR have Sunil Narine, Piyush Chawla and Kuldeep Yadav.
This is an even contest!
The Teams
Chennai Super Kings: 1 Faf du Plessis, 2 Shane Watson, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Ambati Rayudu, 5 Kedar Jadhav, 6 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Scott Kuggeleijn, 9 Deepak Chahar, 10 Harbhajan Singh, 11 Imran Tahir
Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Sunil Narine, 2 Chris Lynn, 3 Robin Uthappa, 4 Nitish Rana, 5 Shubman Gill, 6 Dinesh Karthik (capt & wk), 7 Andre Russell, 8 Piyush Chawla, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Harry Gurney, 11 Prasidh Krishna
Prediction: We are sitting on the fence on this one – both teams are equally good. Anything could happen!
