Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will be up against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for the Opening Encounter in IPL 2022. The Game will be played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Ruturaj Gaikwad
Ruturaj Gaikwad won the orange cap in the 2021 IPL season. He scored 635 runs in 16 innings with 45.4 average and 136.3 SR. He was the youngest player to win the orange cap in Indian Premier League history. He smashed one Hundred against Rajasthan Royals.
Ruturaj against KKR Bowlers:
| Bowler |
Innings |
Runs |
Balls |
Outs |
Avg |
SR |
4s |
6s |
| Sunil Narine |
4 |
43 |
34 |
1 |
43 |
126.5 |
2 |
2 |
| V Chakravarthy |
4 |
29 |
33 |
1 |
29 |
87.9 |
1 |
1 |
| A Russell |
2 |
17 |
6 |
1 |
17 |
283.3 |
1 |
2 |
| S Mavi |
1 |
4 |
7 |
0 |
– |
57.1 |
0 |
0 |
| Total |
|
93 |
80 |
3 |
31 |
116.25 |
4 |
5 |
Varun Chakravarthy troubled Ruturaj more than anyone. Ruturaj should play a better game against 2 mystery spinners to get a good score. Both spinners have the ability to bowl in powerplay, so he has to face them early.
Ravindra Jadeja
Ravindra Jadeja had an impressive record against KKR in the last 2 IPL seasons. In 9 innings he scored 80 runs in just 28 balls with a very high Strike Rate of 285.7. He hit 7 fours and 7 sixes and he was dismissed only once. In bowling, he took 4 overs in 15 overs, with an economy of 7.4.
His bowling average is 27.8 and 22.5 bowling Strike rate. His role will be more important as a captain and an rounder. Moeen Ali isn’t available for the first match, which will add extra pressure on Jadeja as an all rounder.
Jadeja batting stats in the last 2 seasons:
| Series |
Innings |
Runs |
Balls |
Outs |
Avg |
SR |
HS |
50 |
4s |
6s |
| IPL2020 |
11 |
232 |
135 |
5 |
46.4 |
171.9 |
50 |
1 |
22 |
11 |
| IPL2021 |
11 |
227 |
156 |
3 |
75.7 |
145.5 |
62 |
1 |
19 |
9 |
| Total |
22 |
459 |
291 |
8 |
57.4 |
157.7 |
62 |
2 |
41 |
20 |
Varun Chakravarthy
Varun Chakravarthy has a good record against CSK in the Indian Premier League. Varun dismissed Dhoni 3 times in 3 innings. He can bowl in powerplay, middle overs and death overs too. It’s an added advantage. He generally bowls one, two overs in powerplay, even with field restriction it’s tough for batsmen to hit him. He has seven variations, those variations are: off spinner, leg spinner, top spinner, googly, carrom ball, flipper, and slider.
Varun Chakravarthy vs CSK in IPL:
| Series |
Innings |
Overs |
Runs |
Wkts |
Econ |
Avg |
SR |
BBI |
4s |
6s |
| IPL2020 |
2 |
8.0 |
48 |
3 |
6.00 |
16.0 |
16 |
2/20 |
4 |
1 |
| IPL2021 |
3 |
12.0 |
88 |
2 |
7.33 |
44.0 |
36 |
1/23 |
6 |
3 |
| Total |
5 |
20.0 |
136 |
5 |
6.80 |
27.2 |
24 |
2/20 |
10 |
4 |
Sunil Narine
Sunil Narine was ordinary in IPL2020 even though economy rate of 7.95 is good, but he took only 5 wickets in 10 matches. He had success in the 2021 season where he took 16 wickets in 14 matches, with a good economy rate of 6.45. He will be their best bowler in this line up.
Sunil Narine in the last 2 seasons:
| Series |
Innings |
Overs |
Runs |
Wkts |
Econ |
Avg |
SR |
BBI |
4s |
6s |
| IPL2020 |
10 |
38.0 |
302 |
5 |
7.95 |
60.4 |
45.6 |
2/28 |
14 |
15 |
| IPL2021 |
14 |
56.0 |
361 |
16 |
6.45 |
22.6 |
21.0 |
4/21 |
18 |
15 |
| Total |
24 |
94.0 |
663 |
21 |
7.05 |
31.6 |
26.9 |
4/21 |
32 |
30 |
Last season, Sunil Narine took 6 wickets in 3 innings against CSK with a high economy rate. Moeen Ali smashed him and in the First match, absence of Moeen Ali will be an advantage for Narine.
Sunil Narine vs CSK in the last 2 seasons:
| Series |
Innings |
Overs |
Runs |
Wkts |
Econ |
Avg |
SR |
BBI |
4s |
6s |
| IPL2020 |
2 |
8.0 |
54 |
1 |
6.75 |
54.0 |
48.0 |
1/31 |
4 |
1 |
| IPL2021 |
3 |
12.0 |
101 |
6 |
8.42 |
16.8 |
12.0 |
3/41 |
7 |
4 |
| Total |
5 |
20.0 |
155 |
7 |
7.75 |
22.1 |
17.1 |
3/41 |
11 |
5 |
Andre Russell
Andre Russell death overs Strike rate was 248.9 in 2019, 188.9 in 2019 and 150 in 2021. He was in beast mode in 2019, there was some dip in the 2020 season and dropped his Strike rate in the 2021 season too. It’s not a good sign for KKR. Their success will depend on Russell’s form as a finisher.
Andre Russell Batting in death overs(16-20):
| Series |
Innings |
Runs |
Balls |
Outs |
Avg |
SR |
HS |
50 |
4s |
6s |
| IPL2019 |
10 |
351 |
141 |
6 |
58.5 |
248.9 |
57 |
1 |
20 |
38 |
| IPL2020 |
4 |
17 |
9 |
4 |
4.2 |
188.9 |
12 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
| IPL2021 |
6 |
93 |
62 |
5 |
18.6 |
150.0 |
38 |
0 |
7 |
7 |
| Total |
20 |
461 |
212 |
15 |
30.7 |
217.5 |
57 |
1 |
28 |
47 |
KKR used Andre Russell as death bowler and he took wickets with a good Strike rate. Pat Cummins isn’t available for the first few matches, he has to do his with the ball too. Shivam Mavi and Southee/Karunaratne aren’t good death bowlers.
Andre Russell Bowling in death overs(16-20):
| Series |
Innings |
Overs |
Runs |
Wkts |
Econ |
Avg |
SR |
BBI |
4s |
6s |
| IPL2019 |
6 |
7.1 |
69 |
4 |
9.63 |
17.2 |
10.8 |
2/19 |
5 |
4 |
| IPL2020 |
6 |
10.0 |
110 |
5 |
11.00 |
22.0 |
12.0 |
2/22 |
11 |
5 |
| IPL2021 |
6 |
10.0 |
110 |
8 |
11.00 |
13.8 |
7.5 |
5/15 |
11 |
5 |
| Total |
18 |
27.1 |
289 |
17 |
10.64 |
17.0 |
9.6 |
5/15 |
27 |
14 |
Probable Playing XI :
Kolkata Knight Riders:
Venkatesh Iyer, Sam Billings, Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana, Sheldon Jackson, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Chamika Karunaratne, Sunil Narine, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy
Chennai Super Kings:
Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Robin Uthappa, Ambati Rayudu, Shivam Dube, MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Mitchell Santner, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Adam Milne.
