IPL, the biggest cricket tournament in the world is back again. 4 matches in the 11th season of this IPL have been played already and all 8 teams have shown their potential in the field. The 5th match will be played between two of the most successful teams in the IPL, Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders on April 10. Both the teams have won the IPL title twice and also have won their first match of the IPL 2018.

Head-to- Head:

Overall: Matches- 17

Chennai Super Kings – 10

Kolkata Knight Riders– 6

Venue:

Earlier, there were some rumours about shifting of CSK’s home ground but it’s final that CSK will play their first home ground match at M.A. Chidambaram (Chepauk) Stadium, Chennai.

Avg 1st innings score: 166

Avg 2nd innings score: 151

Highest Total: 246/5 (20 Ov) by CSK Vs RR

Lowest Total: 112/10 (19.5 Ov) by CSK Vs MI

Highest Chased: 208/5 (20 Ov) by CSK Vs RCB

Lowest Defended: 134/6 (20 Ov) by CSK vs KKR

(The above stats only include IPL T20s played at Chepauk)

How do the teams stack up?

Chennai Super Kings:

Chennai Super Kings are back after two years suspension from IPL. CSK came back as Kings in their first match after long two years against Mumbai Indians at Wankhede. CSK retained their core by retaining their key players MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo and Faf du Plessis in the auction. However, CSK won their last match against Mumbai Indians but their performance was not satisfactory.
Their batting order flopped completely and bowling performance also looked average. Luckily Bravo came handy with the bat this time and CSK won the match. It will be great for CSK in IPL if Bravo could be a key player in batting as well. But, CSK’s main batting stars along with the highest run scorer in IPL Suresh Raina have to perform according to their reputation.
Also, the injury of Kedar Jadhav is going to be a big problem for CSK in upcoming matches. The old opener of CSK, Murli Vijay can get a chance to show his skills in place of injured Jadhav.

Probable Playing 11: MS Dhoni (Captain and wicketkeeper), Suresh Raina, Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Shane Watson, Murali Vijay, Ambati Rayudu, Lungi Ngidi, Harbhajan Singh, Deepak Chahar and Imran Tahir.

Players to watch: Dwayne Bravo, Suresh Raina, Shane Watson.

Kolkata Knight Riders:

KKR is playing this IPL with their new captain Dinesh Kartik. Kartik performed well in their last match against Royal Challengers Bangalore in both the department i.e batting and captaincy. Sunil Narine is the X-factor of KKR and like the previous year, he again provided a great start to KKR in their first match of IPL 2018. Aussi destructive batsman Lynn disappointed the fans a bit but this is not the big problem for KKR.
KKR’s bowling department is lacking to perform. Against RCB, their part-time bowler Nitish Rana picked two key wickets and their main bowlers struggled in the match along with Sunil Narine. Bowling attack has been the key for KKR when Gambhir was the captain and they even retained their 3 key bowlers. KKR need to work hard in this department. Already every cricket critic is considering them as the weakest team of the IPL 2018 tournament on the paper.
Young U-19 star of ICC U-19 World Cup 2018, Kamlesh Nargarkoti can get a chance to play in place of Umesh Yadav as Yadav struggled very much with his line and length in the previous match against RCb.

Probable Playing 11: Dinesh Karthik (Captain and wicketkeeper), Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana, Andre Russell, Mitchell Johnson, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Rinku Singh and Kamlesh Nagarkoti.

Players to watch: Sunil Narine, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Chris Lynn

Punters Heavy On: Chennai Super Kings