IPL 2021: Predicted XI of Kolkata Knight Riders against Chennai Super Kings

After having a horrible time in India, Kolkata Knight Riders managed to come back and put up a really good performance in the UAE leg. First, they dominated Royal Challengers Bangalore, then continued their domination against the defending champions Mumbai Indians. They have so far shown some aggressive cricket which has worked out well for them. 

They have four wins in nine games and look at a better place than they were in the first half. Now, they will take another top team in the tournament, Chennai Super Kings. As KKR looks to continue its winning run, CSK is also aiming for something similar after winning two games in the UAE leg.

Here is the predicted XI of KKR for the game against CSK: 

Openers (Shubman Gill and Venketesh Iyer)

In the first half of the IPL 2021, the opening combination of Shubman Gill and Nitish Rana wasn’t quite working. However, Rana has been sent back to the middle order where he has found success in domestic cricket and even KKR. Venkatesh Iyer’s emergence has changed the dynamics of the top order of this team. 

In the first match, the duo formed a match-winning partnership with Gill getting a 48. Iyer scored 41* runs in that game. Cut to the next game, the duo got the team off to a great start, putting up 40 runs in three overs. Iyer scored a fifty in that game, his first. The openers are looking quite good at this moment and would be interesting to see how they go about in the next game.  

Middle-order (Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan, Dinesh Karthik, Nitish Rana)

Rahul Tripathi came out firing in the previous match. He made 74 runs from 42 balls against Mumbai, who arguably have one of the best bowling units. He found his form and just kept going for it, consistently finding the fence. Morgan appeared briefly and would have liked to be unbeaten but was dismissed. He hasn’t had the best of years but would look to change that. 

Nitish Rana has been demoted to the middle order and hasn’t had a lot of time in the middle. But, knowing his skills, it can be said it is just about the time that he gets an opportunity and starts scoring. Dinesh Karthik too hasn’t had a hit in some time and would be looking for some runs with the bat. 

All-rounders (Sunil Narine and Andre Russell)

Sunil Narine has not been tried as a batter up at the top order in this tournament yet. But, he has been quite fantastic with the ball. He gave only 20 runs in his four overs in the first game. In the second game, he got a man of the match award for his spell of 1 for 20 runs from four overs. Andre Russell, on the other hand, didn’t have a great game against Mumbai, giving away 37 runs from three overs. He does have a 3 for 9 on his back, which he got in the match before. 

Bowlers (Varun Chakravarthy, Lockie Ferguson, and Prasidh Krishna)

Varun Chakravarthy has had a great tournament so far. He has bowled some really good spells in the UAE leg and has enjoyed bowling on these pitches. His variations are quite effective and might see him foxing a few batters in this game as well. Lockie Ferguson, on the other hand, has turned out to be a good replacement for Pat Cummins. 

He troubled batters with his pace and also managed to pick up wickets regularly. The pitches here have been effective for pace bowling and should help him get something out of it. The pitches have also been good to Prasidh Krishna. Apart from his economy rate, everything seems fine as he has started picking up wickets as well.