XtraTime News Desk: After being banned for couple of years Chennai Super Kings will look to have a perfect start in front of home crowd against Kolkata Knight Riders tomorrow at Chepauk.
Both the teams won their first match and will look to carry the momentum forward to ensure the play off.
CSK will play their first home match since May 2015 in front of huge passionate crowd. Their supports in big numbers also came to support their players while they train.
There are some challenges for the organizers too as some opposition political groups demanding the formation of Cauvery Management Board and threaten to disrupt proceedings.
CSK CEO K S Viswanathan, however, said the team’s home matches will go on as per schedule.
The city police has been informed about the schedule and will handle the situation accordingly, he added.
Pitted against defending champions MI, CSK looked down and out before Dwayne Bravo’s heroics helped the team pull off a stunning heist. Barring Kedar Jadhav and Ambati Rayudu, the rest of the batting failed to get going and skipper M S Dhoni will hope for a quick turnaround.
Back in their den, the CSK players will aim to get going in front of an adoring crowd. The home favourite Dhoni will be expected to lead from the front while Suresh Raina would love to shake off the failure in the MI game.
Jadhav suffered a hamstring pull during the opening game and looks likely to miss the KKR match.
“Kedar will have scans at a hospital here to determine the extent of the injury. We will update on his status later today,” Viswanathan said.
Murali Vijay didn’t play the opening match and could slot in at the top, with Rayudu probably moving down the order.
Also, in case CSK prefers to accommodate South Africa captain Faf du Plessis, there is a possibility of Shardul Thakur getting a call in place of England pacer Mark Wood.
Bravo was the star performer with the ball, delivering at the death after an expensive opening over while Shane Watson took two wickets.
The spin trio of Harbhajan Singh, Ravindra Jadeja and Imran Tahir – bowled just five overs between themselves at the Wankhede but will be expected to play a bigger role at Chepauk, which is known to be spin-friendly.
The visiting Kolkata side started with a win against the strong RCB as Sunil Narine, blasted a quickfire 50.
The batting sports a formidable look with in-form Dinesh Karthik leading a mix of experience and youth. Australian Chris Lynn, when in the mood, can make any ground look small and the KKR think-tank will be praying he plays a big role given his trysts with injury.
The bowling department will miss Australian pacer Mitchell Starc but his replacement Tom Curran will be happy to get opportunities to showcase his talent.
KKR spinners Narine, Kuldeep Yadav and Piyush Chawla would find the surface at Chepauk more to their liking.
All said and done, the Kolkata side led by a Chennai cricketer (Karthik) would be up against the might of the lions in their den, no easy task as many teams have found out in the past.
Teams (from): Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni(c), Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Faf du Plessis, Harbhajan Singh, Dwayne Bravo, Shane Watson, Kedar Jadhav, Ambati Rayudu, Deepak Chahar, KM Asif, Kanishk Seth, Lungi Ngidi, Dhruv Shorey, Murali Vijay, Sam Billings, Mark Wood, Kshitiz Sharma, Monu Kumar, Chaitanya Bishnoi, Imran Tahir, Karn Sharma, Shardul Thakur, N Jagadeesan.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Dinesh Karthik (c), Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa, Andre Russell, Nitish Rana, Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Mitchell Johnson, Shubman Gill, Vinay Kumar, Rinku Singh, Cameron Delport, Javon Searless, Apoorv Wankhade, Ishank Jaggi, Tom Curran.