Probable XI –
Chennai Super Kings –
Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Faf du Plessis, MS Dhoni (C)(WK), Sam Curran, Kedar Jadhav, Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Piyush Chawla, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar
Kolkata Knight Riders –
Shubman Gill, Sunil Narine, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik (c)(wk), Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell, Rahul Tripathi, Pat Cummins, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy, Kamlesh Nagarkoti
Small League Combination 1 –
1. Dinesh Karthik
2. Ambati Rayudu
3. Shane Watson
4. Faf Du Plessis(VC)
5. Shubman Gill
6. Eoin Morgan
7. Andre Russell(C)
8. Ravindra Jadeja
9. Deepak Chahar
10. Shardul Thakur
11. Pat Cummins
-Andre Russell is bowling in death & scoring quick 25-30 runs so he looks the safest choice of captain.
-Faf Du Plessis averaged 25 & 79 in H2H and at this venue too.
-Shane Watson is back in form & a must haves from in SL considering his decent average of 30+ against the opponent.
-Sunil Narine isn’t in my SL combo as he has failed badly in head to head matches & at this venue too.
-Shubman Gill is the most consistent batsman from KKR in terms of the H2H & Venue record with an average of 40&77 respectively.
-MS Dhoni has better record in comparison to the Dinesh but his batting will likely not come as he’s batting very low.
Small League Combination 2 –
1. MS Dhoni
2. Faf Du Plessis(C)
3. Shane Watson
4. Eoin Morgan
5. Nitish Rana
6. Shubman Gill(VC)
7. Sam Curran
8. Andre Russell
9. Deepak Chahar
10. Piyush Chawla
11. Shivam Mavi
-Took MS by dropping a top order batsmen as he might promote himself if any two from the top order fails early.
-Shubham Gill looks another safe VC considering his average of 40&77 in H2H & at this venue respectively.
-Piyush Chawla can be crucial at this big venue because hitting the slow deliveries of spinners will not be easy.
Grand League Combination –
1. Dinesh Karthik
2. Faf Du Plessis
3. Shane Watson
4. Shubman Gill
5. Ravindra Jadeja(VC)
6. Sam Curran
7. Sunil Narine
8. Andre Russell(C)
9. Deepak Chahar
10. Piyush Chawla
11. Pat Cummins
– Took Sunil Narine as he might be crucial especially with bowling at this venue.
-Ravindra Jadeja has average of above 30 with bat in H2H & took wickets too. He can give some good points with that.
-Dropped Eoin Morgan as his batting my not come if top order performers well while Rana doesn’t have very promising record.