Unbeaten at Chepauk, Chennai Super Kings faces a tough test at home when they face the rampaging Kolkata Kinght Riders, here tomorrow.
After winning the last two games, Kokata Knight Riders steps into Chepauk as a confident side and with local lad Dinesh Karthik, leading the side it will be a huge boost for them. Also, being the only side to play in Chepauk in the last edition of the IPL, the team knows the conditions here.
The match however is expected to be an interesting contest as both the teams are loaded with spinners. While KKR’s strong spin-bowling department, led by Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav and Piyush Chawla will look to exploit the spin-friendly conditions at Chepauk to the best of their abilities, the home side has Imran Tahir, Ravindra Jadeja and Harbhajan Singh who have already tasted success in this edition here. With Narine and Chris Lynn finding their mojo back at the top of the order and Robbie Uthappa, Nitish Rana and Dinesh Karthi in good form, they will look to perform well together as a batting unit against CSK spinners in the important clash.
Two main concerns for CSK before the match against Punjab were the form of Rayudu and the unavailability of Dwayne Bravo. However, by making Faf du Plessis open the batting and slotting Rayudu into the middle order, the team has found a solution and by introducing Scott Kuggeleijn who bowled well in the death, they have also found a perfect replacement for Bravo, however it will be interesting to see how they fare, bowling to the dangerous Andre Russell at the death overs. So far this season, he has been an unstoppable force, heloing KKR win games from a very precarious situations. CSK will be wary of the big threat and hopes that the bowlers keep him silent.
With Watson and Du Plessis at the top of the order, the pair will once again look to stitch together a big partnership. Apart from the KKR spinners, the CSK batsmen will also have to play Harry Gurney, the left-arm seamer well. He has a lot of variations under his belt and has the ability to deceive the batsmen with his slower ball.
Having made his debut last night against Rajasthan, he picked up two wickets and conceded just 17 runs in his overs. It will be interesting to see how he performs in the Chepauk track. Currently placed at the top of the table, Dinesh Karthik will hope that his side plays well yet again and breaks CSK’s winning streak at home.