IPL 2019: Kolkata Knight Riders probable playing XI against Chennai Super Kings
The Kolkata Knight Riders will travel to Tamil Nadu to face the Chennai Super Kings, who are unbeaten at home this season. Both sides will come off convincing wins over the Rajasthan Royals and the Kings XI Punjab respectively. KKR and CSK currently occupy the top two spots in the IPL points table respectively, and this match will be a crucial one with respect to the standings of the league.
Both sides are in good form with the bat and the ball, with CSK even proving that they can win matches even without few of their key players. Scott Kuggeleijn is a good death bowling option and a tailor-made replacement for DJ Bravo.
KKR's top order looks even more dangerous due to the form of their openers and CSK need to get them out early. Also, their spinners were excellent and choked the RR batsmen and forced them to a low score and they will look to thrive on a spin-friendly pitch in Chennai.
KKR have had success against CSK before and on that note, let's take a look at the Kolkata outfit's probable playing XI for tomorrow's game.
Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine will continue at the top for KKR. The duo registered their first 50-run stand this season and both of them look to be in their destructive best against RR. Narine especially can start hitting the CSK bowlers right from the start and he has no worries about sticking around or reading the pitch conditions.
Robin Uthappa and Nitish Rana will be the other top order batsmen for KKR and both of them have played really well this season. The pitch will suit both of them as they are great players of spin and will look to take on the CSK spinners. They can form a great partnership as Rana can deal with Ravindra Jadeja, while Uthappa tackles Imran Tahir.
Shubman Gill and Dinesh Karthik will be the main middle order batsmen for the side. Both the players haven't had too many opportunities to bat and have not faced many balls out in the middle. They will have to play a major role on a slow Chennai track and take the team to a respectable total or chase one down. Karthik has been great as a captain and will have to duel MS Dhoni's tactical brilliance.
Andre Russell will be the X-Factor for KKR and will surely be sent in to bat at some point of the match. He has been tremendous during chases as well as when his side have been batting first, and it has been very hard to bowl to him. He can be asked to bowl a couple of overs himself, besides tearing apart the CSK bowlers.
Piyush Chawla and Kuldeep Yadav have been KKR's spin bowling mainstay for some time now and they are expected to play this game as well. Both of them will look to turn the ball and pressurize the CSK batsmen on a pitch that is made for spinners. Chawla can bowl with the new ball as a tactic to repel the dangerous Shane Watson.
Prasidh Krishna and Harry Gurney will be KKR's main pace bowlers for this match. The duo are expected to bowl a lot of change-ups and slower deliveries on this pitch which doesn't offer much assistance to the fast bowlers. However, both these bowlers are very crafty players and have well disguised slower balls which will be difficult to hit. They will look to prey on the pressure created by the spinners.
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