Match 25 brings us a clash between the struggling Chennai Super Kings and reigning champions Kolkata Knight Riders at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on April 11.
For the game, here are our preview and predictions.
The Super Kings have had a dismal season so far, having won only one match out of five and looked lost and out of ideas. In their last match against the Punjab Kings, CSK got three wickets in the Powerplay but gave away 75 runs. Despite struggling at 83/5 by the eighth over, opener Priyansh Arya’s (103 off 42) impressive lone hand and further contributions from lower-order batters Shashank Singh (52* off 36) and Marco Jansen (34* off 19) propelled the Kings to a massive 219/6.
In response, the CSK batters started well, registering 60/0 in the Powerplay, but soon after they lost two quick wickets as Rachin Ravindra and captain Ruturaj Gaikwad departed. Impact Sub Shivam Dube (42 off 27) and Devon Conway (69 off 49, retired out) took the attack to the Kings and looked dangerous, with PBKS fielders further helping them with some dropped catches, but the required run rate kept rising and Dube soon lost his wicket trying to up the ante. MS Dhoni came out to bat early, but PBKS held their nerve to win the match by 18 runs.
On the other hand, the Knight Riders also lost a high-scoring encounter in their last outing against the Lucknow Super Giants. Batting first, the LSG top order annihilated the KKR bowlers, with Mitchell Marsh (81 off 48), Nicholas Pooran (87* off 36), and Aiden Markram (47 off 28) all making huge contributions to take the team to a massive total of 238/3.
In response, KKR lost two early wickets but scored 91 runs in the Powerplay thanks to a quickfire 30 off 13 from Sunil Narine. Ajinkya Rahane (61 off 35) and Venkatesh Iyer (45 off 29) then looked like making short work of the target, but the middle-order batters ended up disappointing, and sending Rinku Singh (38* off 15) late proved costly as they fell short by four runs.
Coming to this game, with CSK struggling with their batting and bowling, KKR have an edge. Even though they conceded a massive total in their last game, their batting has enough firepower to hand the five-time IPL champions another defeat.
Fantasy XI: Rachin Ravindra, Devon Conway, Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Shivam Dube, MS Dhoni (wk), Rinku Singh, Noor Ahmad, Varun Chakaravarthy, Khaleel Ahmed
Venue: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
Winners Prediction: Kolkata Knight Riders
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