It will be an emotional homecoming for the Chennai Super Kings when they take on Kolkata Knight Riders in an Indian Premier League (IPL) clash on Tuesday at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
Making a return to the league after a two-year suspension, the MS Dhoni-led franchise will play in front of their home fans for the first time since 2015 after beating the defending champions Mumbai Indians in the tournament opener.
On the other hand, Kolkata Knight Riders started their campaign in style by beating favourites Royal Challengers Bangalore at Eden Gardens on Sunday.
TALKING POINTS
If there were question marks over CSK’s ageing outfit going into the tournament, then all of those negatives were removed as Dwayne Bravo’s sublime 68 (30) powered them to victory against a star-studded Bangalore side. Bravo and Shane Watson’s all-round abilities have given Dhoni’s side balance and composure therefore it would be foolish to write them off yet. They have however, lost the services of middle-order batsman Kedar Jadhav who has been ruled out for the rest of the IPL with a hamstring injury.
On the other hand, Kolkata Knight Riders will be relying on their strong spin contingent to lead the way once again. With Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav and Piyush Chawla in their ranks, Dinesh Karthik’s men will go into the match with confidence given how well spinners have done over the years at Chennai.
PLAYERS IN FOCUS
CSK pacer Mark Wood was taken for plenty of runs after a promising start against Mumbai Indians. It will be interesting to see if Dhoni sticks with the Englishman for Tuesday’s clash or if he opts to go with South Africa’s Lungi Ngidi who impressed during India’s tour of the rainbow nation earlier this year.
Ravindra Jadeja bowled just the one over in the opening clash and will be looking to make a greater contribution for CSK with both bat and ball.
For KKR, Australia’s Chris Lynn will be itching for a solid display after a quiet outing in the win over Bangalore. The left-handed opener is one of the most destructive batsmen in the format and if he gets going on Tuesday, it could be raining sixes at the MA Chidambaram stadium.
LIKELY LINE-UPS
Chennai Super Kings: Shane Watson, Ambati Rayadu, Suresh Raina, Murali Vijay, MS Dhoni (C), Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir, Mark Wood.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Sunil Narine, Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik (C), Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Piyush Chawla, Vinay Kumar, Mitchell Johnson, Kuldeep Yadav.
