Kolkata Knight Riders faced intense scrutiny during their loss against Delhi Capitals last week on their batting order, and will aim to put it past them as they take on the Chennai Super Kings on Wednesday. The CSK are high on morale after a perfect 10-wicket win over Kings XI Punjab, which saw opener Shane Watson returning to form after poor outings throughout the campaign so far.
The eyes will also be on Dinesh Karthik and his decision-making -- specifically in the batting order. Karthik has not inspired confidence with the bat either. The KKR captain has only scored 27 runs in four matches so far.
Let's take a look at the key stats ahead of the game:
Head to Head: Both the sides have met on 20 occasions in the Indian Premier League, with Chennai Super Kings leading with 13 wins. KKR have won seven times. CSK, however, have won all the five matches when they batted first against KKR.
In Abu Dhabi: Both the sides will meet in the UAE for the first time.
Key Stats:
- Andre Russell boasts of the highest strike-rate among the current roster of both the squads (176.32). Russell, who is promoted at number four in the last two games, has not been in the best of his runs so far.
- However, the one bowler against whom Russell's strike-rate falls below 100 is Imran Tahir (96.30). Tahir has dismissed Russell twice so far. But will he play tonight?
- Sunil Narine (14 wickets) has the most wickets from either side in the clash (among current squads). However, a larger focus will be on his batting position, as KKR's experiment with him as an opener hasn't worked so far.
