IPL 2023 Predictions: KKR vs CSK

Kolkata Knight Riders will clash with Chennai Super Kings in the 33rd match of the Indian Premier League 2023 at the Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata on Sunday (April 23).

CSK are in third place in the standings with eight points in six games, whereas Kolkata sit on the eighth position with four points in six matches.

KKR had a good start to this tournament but they had failed to continue the winning momentum and lost to relatively weaker teams like SRH, MI and DC.

KKR have faced CSK in 28 matches and have won 10 matches while CSK has emerged victors 18 times.

CSK won they last match against Sunrisers Hyderabad as they defeated the Aiden Markram-led side comfortably.

On the other hand, Kolkata lost their previous game to the David Warner-led Delhi Capitals.

The two-time champions would be keen on getting back to winning ways when they take on Chennai next.

After a rocky start to the IPL 2023, CSK’s 31-year-old Devon Conway has swiftly picked up on his form.

With 258 runs in six games so far, and an unbeaten knock of 77 runs in his previous game, Conway looks good to put in another fabulous performance vs KKR.

Narine and Chakravarthy will play a vital role in the KKR bowling attack.

Jason Roy will be Kolkata’s best hope in the top order along with Venkatesh Iyer.

Russell, Rinku Singh, and Thakur can all hit the long ball in the lower order and help push the KKR total beyond 200.

Though there are some quality pacers in this squad such as Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, and Shardul Thakur, they haven’t been at their best.

Tim Southee could come in for Jason Roy as the impact player when KKR take the field.

Varun Chakravarthy, the mystery spinner is in good form and took 2 wickets at an economy rate of 4.25 in the previous game against DC.

MS Dhoni could end up using all 4 of his overseas players in the starting XI.

Apart from Conway, Moeen Ali is a certainty as he provides depth to the batting and is a bowling option as well.

The Sri Lankan pair of Matheesha Pathirana and Maheesh Theekshana also impressed with the ball in the previous game.

However, given the nature of the pitch, Deepak Chahar could replace Tushar Deshpande.

Ruturaj Gaikwad is their batting mainstay. Currently, he is in sixth position for the orange cap with a total of 235 runs.

Akash Singh is a promising young bowler in the CSK squad who can get the new ball to move and nip early on.

The pitch at Eden Gardens is generally good for batting, with a good bounce and pace.

However, it can also assist spinners as the game progresses, especially in the later part of the match.

The boundary length at Eden Gardens is around 77 meters, which is slightly larger than the average boundary length for cricket grounds.

Probable XIs:

Kolkata Knight Riders: Jason Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, N Jagadeesan (wk), Nitish Rana (c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakaravarthy

Chennai Super Kings: Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ajinkya Rahane, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (c/wk), Maheesh Theekshana, Matheesha Pathirana, Tushar Deshpande, Akash Singh

Who will win

KKR’s biggest problem has been the lack of batting consistency.

They have relied on individual brilliance to gather their points.

Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh and Nitish Rana have played some outstanding innings but Sunil Narine, Russell and Jagadeesan have turned out to be damp squibs.

What’s worse, when one batter clicks, the others have collectively failed.

As a result, KKR has not shown the kind of solidity needed to put together a series of wins.

Hence, we feel CSK are the firm favourites to win this match.