The Dubai International Cricket Stadium will host the 49th match of the Dream11 Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 when Chennai Super Kings (CSK) take on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Thursday.
CSK have registered 4 wins from the 12 matches they have played and are coming into this game on the back of a convincing eight-wicket win against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Meanwhile, KKR have won and lost 6 matches each and this will be their first game since their eight-wicket defeat against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP).
CSK managed to get the better of RCB with ease in its previous match. The venue was the same as for this next match and it seemed as if the conditions were finally to CSK's liking. Mitch Santner and Imran Tahir helped tie up the batsmen in the middle while Deepak Chahar and Sam Curran were effective in picking up wickets.
For once, the CSK batting fired and chased down a smallish total with ease. We may see a few changes in the team as CSK wants to try out its entire bench ahead of the next match. Constant chopping and changing is never a good sign and that can affect the performances of the existing players as well.
Looking at the lineup from the previous match, we don't think CSK has suddenly found the answer to all of its problems. They had a good day and won but that does not make them a great side. Ruturaj Gaekwad will be tested by the KKR fast bowlers and there more than enough spinners to make batting difficult in the middle.
It's not sure of Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, and Sam Curran are going to be entirely comfortable against the KKR spinners. CSK has batted well in just one match
and struggled in most others. Keep that in mind.
They do have the bowling to ask questions of the opposition but there are no obvious match-winners here either.
KKR lost its previous match because of its batting. We had highlighted the possibility of a collapse as they are playing with one batsman short and that was
what happened. Nitish Rana failed after his great inning against DC and that set the stage for a mini-collapse. Rahul Tripathi has been poor in recent
matches and Dinesh Karthik is struggling massively. Both these players may keep their place in the side but that is only because KKR does not have too many
other compelling options on the bench.
Shubhman Gill and Eoin Morgan were the best players in the previous match. They both played freely and looked in good touch right up until they got out.
Sunil Narine may enjoy playing against CSK seeing as they lack a genuine fast-bowling option and have plenty of spinners in their lineup.
KKR has to consider beefing up it's batting, though. Kamlesh Nagarkoti did not bowl a single delivery in the previous match and so they clearly have the bowling to manage without him. We think the addition of a batsman would be great but they have just Nikhil Naik and Rinku Singh on the bench.
Playing Tom Banton instead of Pat Cummins is a big risk but one that may be on the cards. If Andre Russell were fit, he could have replaced Cummins and provided an easy solution to KKR's team balance issues.
There are a lot of things that KKR needs to get right. It had the perfect game against DC where everything went right and a really poor one against KXIP.
Weather Forecast
The temperature is expected to be around 30-28 degrees during the match. The forecast shows no chance of rain. The humidity will be around 40-50 per cent and
the wind speed around 20 kmph.
Pitch Report
The conditions in Dubai have tilted towards the bowlers. The playing surface has become slower and slower with accurate spin being particularly difficult to score off. As it progresses, the evening dew poses a challenge to the spinners who find it difficult to grip the ball. A score of around 170+ is going to be competitive and anything more is potentially match-winning.
Toss Prediction
Teams batting second have mostly managed to chased down the target in second half of the season and hence both CSK and KKR will be looking to bowl first.
Stats and Facts
Head to head: Matches Played: 23
Chennai Super Kings: 14
Kolkata Knight Riders: 9
Approaching Milestones:
Deepak Chahar needs 5 wickets to complete 50 IPL wickets.
Ravindra Jadeja is 1 catch away from completing 50 IPL catches for CSK.
Rahul Tripathi needs 53 runs to complete 1000 IPL runs.
Nitish Rana requires 87 runs to complete 1000 IPL runs for KKR.
If they play, it will be Narine's 350thT20 game, Ravindra Jadeja's 250th, and Kuldeep Yadav's 100th.
Likely XIs:
Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Faf du Plessis, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (capt & wk), N Jagadeesan, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Mitchell Santner,
Deepak Chahar, Monu Kumar, Imran Tahir.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Eoin Morgan (capt), Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakravarthy, Prasidh Krishna.
Players to Watch Out For:
Chennai Super Kings: Faf du Plessis, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni, Sam Curran, Imran Tahir.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik, Eoin Morgan, Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, Varun Chakravarthy
Match Odds:
Kolkata Knight Riders: 1.72
Chennai Super Kings: 2.10
SantaBanta's Winner Prediction: Kolkata Knight Riders
IPL 2020 Winner Live Odds
Mumbai Indians - 2.4
Royal Challengers Bangalore - 4.333
Delhi Capitals - 5
Kings XI Punjab - 7.5
Kolkata Knight Riders - 15
Sunrisers Hyderabad - 29
Rajasthan Royals - 34
Match Venue: Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai
Time: 7.30 PM IST
TV: Star Sports Network
Live Streaming: Disney+ Hotstar VIP
