In a repeat of last year’s final, the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) with their new captains – Ravindra Jadeja and Shreyas Iyer, will lock horns in the opening match of the IPL 2022 and look to start their campaign on a winning note at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday (March 26). Ahead of the start of the IPL 2022, the 40-year-old M.S Dhoni on Thursday decided to hand over the captaincy of CSK to Jadeja. The star all-rounder, who has been an integral part of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) since 2012, will only be the third player to lead the Chennai-based franchise after Dhoni and Suresh Raina.


COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

Notably, it will be the first time that Dhoni will play as a pure wicket-keeper batter and won’t lead the side in an IPL match. The only time that the legendary cricketer has represented Super Kings strictly as a player was in 2012, in a dead-rubber Champions League T20 game against Yorkshire.


A decade later, CSK will be starting a new chapter under the leadership of Jadeja, who has been an integral part of the franchise since 2012, becoming only the third player to lead the Chennai-based franchise after Dhoni and Suresh Raina. As a new skipper, star all-rounder’s first challenge is to fill the big voids created by the absence of first-choice players Deepak Chahar (injured) and Moeen Ali (unavailable due to visa issues). Moeen reached India late due to visa issues and he will only be available for CSK’s second game, against Lucknow Super Giants on March 31, after undergoing quarantine for three days.


In the absence of England all-rounder, New Zealand batter Devon Conway is set to make his IPL debut. But it will be interesting to see, whether CSK plays him as an opener or use him as a floater in the middle-order to counter Knight Riders’ mystery spinners Conway is technically very sound against spin bowling. In all T20 cricket, Conway averages 61.63 and strikes at 134.65 against spin. Against pace, the average drops to 37.40 and strike rate to 126.15.


Match Details


Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders, Match 1


Venue: Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai


Date & Time: March 26th at 7:30 PM IST


Live Streaming: Star Sports Network, Star Gold and Disney+Hotstar


CSK vs KKR Dream 11 Prediction


Wicketkeeper: Sam Billings


Batters: Devon Conway, Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana, Ruturaj Gaikwad (c)


All-rounders: Ravindra Jadeja, Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer (vc)


Bowlers: Dwayne Bravo, Adam Milne, Varun Chakravarthy


CSK vs KKR Probable Playing XI


Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Robin Uthappa, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja (c), MS Dhoni (wk), Shivam Dube, Dwayne Bravo, Tushar Deshpande, Chris Jordan / Maheesh Theekshana, Adam Milne


Kolkata Knight Riders: Venkatesh Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane, Nitish Rana, Shreyas Iyer (c), Sam Billings (wk), Andre Russell, Mohammad Nabi / Tim Southee, Sunil Narine, Shivam Mavi, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy