CSK recovered from a poor start to defeat defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) by 20 runs. In the MS Dhoni vs Virat Kohli clash, the mentor emerged victorious, as CSK thumped Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by six wickets.
KKR’s performance in the UAE leg has come as a breath of fresh air, and against all odds. They blew away RCB for 92 in sensational fashion en route to registering a nine-wicket win. KKR too got the better of MI, putting up a commanding all-round show. In the points table, CSK are second with seven wins from nine games while KKR have moved up to fourth with four wins from nine games.
It doesn’t seem like CSK will want to make any chances to their playing XI. As a result, Sam Curran might be forced to sit out again. While Ruturaj Gaikwad continued his good form, Faf du Plessis, Moeen Ali, Ambati Rayudu and Suresh Raina also got among the runs against RCB.
CSK predicted XI: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Faf du Plessis, Moeen Ali, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (c& w), Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Josh Hazlewood
KKR will definitely not want any changes in their combination. Venkatesh Iyer has been spectacular at the start of the innings and has engineered a mini-turnaround in KKR’s fortunes. Rahul Tripathi is slowly beginning to find more consistency in his attacking knocks, which is good news for him and KKR
KKR’s predicted XI: Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan (c), Dinesh Karthik (w), Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakravarthy, Prasidh Krishna
Top Fantasy picks for CSK vs KKR clash: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Dwayne Bravo, Shardul Thakur, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Varun Chakravarthy
--Renin Wilben Albert