What

A fifth win will be up for grabs when Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders come up against each other in Match 23 of VIVO IPL 2019.

Both teams are coming at the back of convincing wins in their respective previous matches. While the Super Kings defeated Kings XI Punjab on Saturday evening, the Knight Riders breached the Rajasthan Royals’ fortress on Sunday night.

A win in this match will serve as a boost to the Chennai Super Kings, who play a series of four consecutive matches on the road after this. The Kolkata Knight Riders will complete a series of four away matches with this fixture and now head back home for three back-to-back home matches.

When

9 April 2019, 8pm IST

Where

MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai

Previous Match XIs:

Chennai Super Kings:Faf du Plessis, Shane Watson, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Scott Kuggeleijn, Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar.

Kolkata Knight Riders:Sunil Narine, Chris Lynn, Robbie Uthappa, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Harry Gurney, Prasidh Krishna.

Protagonists

Both teams are packed with several in-form batsmen. MS Dhoni has turned the clock back; not only has he been striking those big sixes, but he has been finishing off games for the Super Kings. The CSK skipper has remained unbeaten in three of his team’s four wins and is the Super Kings’ top run-getter this season.

Among others, Faf du Plessis made an instant impact on making the CSK playing XI; he scored 54 off 38 balls in the win against Kings XI Punjab. The South African captain has been in good form with the bat so far this year, and given the World Cup is round the corner he will look to carry his form heading into that global event.

CSK will be concerned about the form of Suresh Raina (whose highest score in five innings this season is 36) and Ambati Rayudu (who has slipped down the batting order after failing miserably as opener).

Chris Lynn, whose scores have become progressively better, and who scored a half-century in the previous match against the Rajasthan Royals, and Sunil Narine (who has often provided KKR with rapid starts) might find the conditions challenging – and hence there will be added responsibility on the shoulders of Robbie Uthappa and Nitish Rana.

And then of course, there’s Andre Russell – who has single-handedly won KKR three matches this season.

Both teams are packed with quality spinners, and given Chennai’s reputation of providing spinner-friendly tracks, expect the likes of Harbhajan Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Piyush Chawla, Sunil Narineand Kuldeep Yadav to have a field day.

Head to Head in Indian Premier League

Overall: Matches – 18,Chennai Super Kings– 11, Kolkata Knight Riders – 7.

In Chennai: Matches – 8, Chennai Super Kings– 6, Kolkata Knight Riders – 2.

The last meeting between these two teams in Chennai was a high-scoring thriller. Andre Russell flayed the CSK bowlers to register his highest score in the IPL; he added 63 from the 20 balls he faced in the last five overs and helped KKR, who were 123-5 after 15 overs, to a formidable total of 202. Russell’s blitz included five sixes off Dwayne Bravo – including three consecutive hits over the fence in the nineteenth over.

Russell’s effort was matched by Shane Watson (42 from 19 balls) and Sam Billings (56 from 20 balls). The equation came down to CSK needing 17 off the final over; Bravo and Jadeja competed the job with a ball to spare.

Trivia

The Chennai Super Kings have a 15-1 win-loss record in their last 16 matches at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

Kolkata Knight Riders’ scoring rate of 10.06 is the best among all teams this season. The Chennai Super Kings’ economy rate of 7.12 is the best among all teams this season.

The Chennai Super Kings are undefeated batting first in VIVO IPL 2019, while the Kolkata Knight Riders are undefeated in three run-chases this season.