It promises to be a Friday night blockbuster as the Kolkata Knight Riders take on the Chennai Super Kings in the summit clash of this edition of the Indian Premier League on Friday, 15th October, at the Dubai International Stadium.
The boys in Purple and Gold have incorporated a fearless brand of cricket and reaped massive dividends in the second phase of the competition. The batting unit looks solid with Venkatesh Iyer and Shubman Gill in sublime form. The duo laid the foundation for the side with a 96-run opening partnerhsip in Qualifier 2 and will look to give the team a flying start in the first six overs. With 417 runs in nine innings at an average of 46.33, which is the most runs by a pair in the UAE leg of the competition.
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The Knights Riders have a formidable middle-order with years of international experience in Dinesh Karthik and Eoin Morgan. The duo will shoulder the responsibility of the side in the middle overs and give the team much-needed impetus in the back end of the innings.
The bowling unit will be heavily reliant on the spin trio of Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy and Shakib Al Hasan to stifle the opposition in the middle overs and pick up crucial wickets. With 41 wickets at an average of 21.85 in six innings, the Knight Riders have the best bowling average in the IPL at Dubai. The pace bowling unit of Lockie Ferguson and Shivam Mavi have picked up vital wickets with the new ball and bowled exceedingly well at the death. In this high-voltage clash, the team will expect a similar performance from the bowling unit to get over the line and clinch their third IPL title.
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On the other hand, the Super Kings have one of the most balanced squads in the competition with a mix of young domestic talent and experienced international players. The batting unit of the side will revolve around the opening combination of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Faf de Plessis. The duo have been the mainstays of the batting department and will look to give the team a steady start in this summit clash.
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The bowling unit of the side will rely on Deepak Chahar to give the side breakthroughs with the new ball. CSK will also look to Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur to restrict the opposition in the middle overs and pick up crucial wickets to dent the opposition.
KKR squad list:
Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill, Sunil Narine, Eoin Morgan (c), Rahul Tripathi, Varun Chakravarthy, Pawan Negi, Tim Seifert, Shakib al Hasan, Sheldon Jackson, Vaibhav Arora, Karun Nair, Harbhajan Singh, Ben Cutting, Venkatesh Iyer.
CSK Squad list:
MS Dhoni (C), Suresh Raina, Faf du Plessis, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ambati Rayudu, Imran Tahir, Josh Hazlewood, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Lungi Ngidi, Dwayne Bravo, Karn Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Moeen Ali, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, K Gowtam, Sam Curran, Robin Uthappa, Mitchell Santner, Jagadeesan N, KM Asif, R Sai Kishore, C Hari Nishaanth, M Harisankar Reddy, K Bhagath Verma
