Chennai Super Kings v Kolkata Knight Riders Betting Preview

The opening match of the 2022 IPL pits the two finalists from last year. CSK won that one of course after posting a big total and defending it quite comfortably, despite KKR’s strong start in the chase. These are the second and third most successful sides in IPL history and come into this match with new skippers in charge.

Shreyas Iyer was bought by KKR after not being retained by the Delhi Capitals and they had him taking over the captaincy in mind when they did so. Last year Kolkata had Eoin Morgan leading the franchise who was neither retained by Kolkata nor bought by any other team.

As for CSK, the great MS Dhoni resigned the captaincy on the eve of the tournament but will carry on playing as a wicketkeeper and middle-order batsman. His successor is fellow Chennai stalwart Ravindra Jadeja who has been at the franchise for over a decade. He is almost as much a part of the CSK DNA as Dhoni himself.

But he’ll have his hands full. In addition to captaining the side, he will bat in the middle-order, bowl, and field in all the key areas. It will be a busy season for the world’s number one test all-rounder.

Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders MATCH Odds

The betting sites are finding it very hard to split the two. Betway makes KKR the slight favorites at 1.85 with CSK at 1.95. It’s slightly surprising that they’ve priced it up that way given CSK’s extremely strong record in this fixture as we’ll soon discuss in the head-to-head.

The reason for that may have to do with the team news. Not only did CSK lose pace bowler Deepak Chahar to injury a few weeks ago but they’ll also have to make do without Moeen Ali and Dwayne Pretorius just for this game.

The England all-rounder had a visa issue meaning he won’t be playing in this match though CSK hope to have him available for the next one. With Ali out, they may well have played fellow all-rounder Pretorius. But he has just finished playing an ODI series for South Africa and isn’t available either.

So that’s two big gaps in CSK’s team right there in Chahar and Ali and those aren’t easy players to replace. The IPL betting sites obviously feel those losses are bigger than the ones KKR has because they’re missing players too.

Pat Cummins has just been in test action out in Pakistan while Alex Hales pulled out of the IPL citing bubble fatigue. The man brought in to replace him, Aaron Finch is preparing for an ODI Series and is also out of action for Kolkata. So, they have their own absentees, too.

Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders Match Prediction

CSK have won over 2/3 of their matches against KKR which is a superb record against one of the IPL’s strongest sides. Of course, some may feel that head-to-head records are somewhat irrelevant this season.

After all, with teams only being able to retain a maximum of four players (some chose to retain less) and with the Mega Auction that followed, the teams are virtually unrecognizable from those of previous seasons.

But some of the players are the same and so too are the management and coaching teams. We all know how strong those are at CSK. The men in yellow beat KKR three times last season, including of course in the final, and have now won six of the last seven between them.

CSK have a knack for hitting the ground running.

CSK vs KKR BETWAY best BeTS

Here are the best bets that you can take in CSK vs KKR T20 match:

Shreyas Iyer to score 50+ Runs @3.75 with Betway

The new KKR skipper has been in scintillating form of late in all formats. He scored 80 in the last ODI against the West Indies last month. Iyer followed that up with scores of 57, 74, and 73 in the T20I series also against the Windies. He was not out in all of those.

For good measure, he then scored 92 and 67 in the Second Test against Sri Lanka. So, Iyer is very much in the form of his life, and batting at three or four, enough time to play proper innings, will be desperate to get a big score on his KKR debut.

Ravindra Jadeja to be CSK Top Bowler @ 5.0 with Betway

Don’t dismiss the chances of the other skipper having a big impact on the game too. With Chahar and Ali out, CSK’s bowling won’t be at its best and it’s a chance for Jadeja to make his mark.

Jadeja is generally good for one wicket a game with his left-arm orthodox and if he can grab two here, we’ll have every chance. As skipper, he’ll be happy to bowl himself and will probably bowl all four overs as he looks to make an impact. At the IPL odds, he looks the pick.

CSK vs KKR Projected Playing XI

CSK Likely XI: Gaikwad, Conway, Uthappa, Rayudu, Jadeja, Bravo, Dube, Dhoni, Milne, Jordan, Deshpande

KKR Likely XI : V Iyer, Rahane, Rana, S Iyer, Russell, Billings, Nabi, Narine, Mavi, Umesh Yadav, Chakravarthy.

CSK vs KKR Head-to-Head RECORD

These two have played a total of 26 matches, one of which was a no-result. Of those, CSK have won 17 losing eight. Things were pretty tight for the first few seasons but it’s been all CSK of late.

Over the past three seasons, they played seven times with Chennai winning six of those.