Chennai Super Kings (CSK) certainly proved why they are one of the best teams of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Sunday night. MS Dhoni & Co rediscovered the kick which brought them back in the tournament. Following three loses on the trot, CSK returned to winning ways as they defeated Kings XI Punjab by 10 wickets.
This 10-wicket victory was a statement, indicating there is much fuel left in the tank. The way Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis cruised CSK to victory while chasing 179, shows that experience plays a major part in conquering battles. The team, which drew criticism over the fitness of its players, came out with flying colours and will definitely be going to haunt Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
KKR, on the other hand, has been under-fire despite being a star-studded side. Dinesh Karthik’s captaincy hasn’t been impressive when it comes to setting the right batting-order. Their last encounter against Delhi Capitals was the evidence of this conundrum when the skipper promoted himself ahead of in-form Eoin Morgan.
Another factor that has been hurting KKR consistently is favouring Sunil Narine over English batsman Tom Banton. The Caribbean all-rounder had a terrific CPL season but he has been failing to continue the same form in IPL 2020. Narine has managed only 27 runs from four games, clocking a strike rate of 87.09.
{{/usCountry}}Another factor that has been hurting KKR consistently is favouring Sunil Narine over English batsman Tom Banton. The Caribbean all-rounder had a terrific CPL season but he has been failing to continue the same form in IPL 2020. Narine has managed only 27 runs from four games, clocking a strike rate of 87.09.
{{/usCountry}}Karthik & Co also seems to be lacking balance in the bowling department as well. They have enough resources to take down the opponents. However, mismanagement has been an issue here as well. The bowlers are needed to be backed, especially Kuldeep Yadav who hasn’t been utilized up to his capacity.
READ | Kolkata Knight Riders predicted XI against Chennai Super Kings: Time to back Banton over Narine
SQUADS:
CSK: MS Dhoni (C), M Vijay, Ambati Rayudu, Faf du Plessis, Shane Watson, Kedar Jadhav, Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Lungi Ngidi, Deepak Chahar, Piyush Chawla, Imran Tahir, Mitchell Santner, Josh Hazlewood, Shardul Thakur, Sam Curran, N Jagadeesan, KM Asif, Monu Kumar, R Sai Kishore, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Karn Sharma.
KKR: Dinesh Karthik (C), Andre Russell, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Rinku Singh, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill, Siddhesh Lad, Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, Eoin Morgan, Varun Chakravarthy, Tom Banton, Rahul Tripathi, Chris Green, M Siddharth, Nikhil Naik, Ali Khan.