Huge game today in Indian Premier League (IPL 2024) as two of the biggest rivals in the T20 league are going to meet for the first time this season. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are going to host (Kolkata Knight Riders) at Chepauk and it cannot get better than this. Former captains of the respective teams – MS Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir – will be in two different roles but the desire to beat each other will still be there in them. Mind you, CSK have lost two in a row and need a win to bounce back while KKR are on winning spree, winning 3 in 3 so far.

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CSK vs KKR: Head-to-head

CSK and KKR are big rival because of the intensity with which these two teams play. But when it comes to head-to-head record, there is a big gap between them. CSK have won 18 matches against KKR while the Kolkata-based franchise has won only 10. In Chepauk, the two teams have met each other ten times, out of which KKR have won thrice while Chennai have been victorious 7 times. Gautam Gambhir will want his team to get more closer to Chennai today by winning this contest.

Chennai Pitch Report

The MA Chidambaram stadium offers slower pitches, especially in the IPL. CSK build their squad keeping the slow nature of the surface in mind. Expect slower bowlers to dominate the game. KKR are one side which can do well at Chennai despite the slower nature of the surface because they do have the type of bowlers in Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and if needed Suyash Sharma to do the job. But the likes of Ravindra Jadeja, Maheesh Theekshana, Mitchell Santner know this surface better having played here a lot in the league. The slow medium pace of Shivam Dube and Daryl Mitchell can also come in handy for CSK today.

Key battles

Rinku Singh vs the Sri Lankan duo of Matheesha Pathirana and Maheesh Theekshana will be a contest to look out for. Rinku is known for his finishing skills but it is also true that he has scored just 35 runs off 33 balls against them in the league. It will be interested to see how Rinku goes against Theekshana in the middle overs and Pathirana in the death overs.

Ruturaj Gaikwad vs Mitchell Starc will be another good contest as well the KKR spinners vs MS Dhoni. We might see Varun Chakravarthy being introduced if Dhoni comes to bat early as the former CSK captain has had difficulties facing leg or mystery spin bowling.

Weather forecast in Chennai today

It is going to be super hot in Chennai on April 8. There will be no clouds in Chennai today as the temperature will be between 31 to 35 degrees with the humidity crossing 74 percent mark by 7 pm IST when te match is about to begin. But no rain in Chennai today.

CSK vs KKR: Probable Playing 11s

CSK Probable XI: Rachin Ravindra, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ajinkya Rahane, Shivam Dube, Daryl Mitchell, Ravindra Jadeja, Sameer Rizvi/Mitchell Santner, MS Dhoni, Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana 

KKR Probable XI: Sunil Narine, Phil Salt, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy