Highlights:
- CSK to face KKR in IPL 2021 final at Dubai International Stadium
- CSK defeated KKR in both the meetings in IPL 2021
- In total, CSK and KKR have played 25 matches, 16 of which were won by the team in Yellow
The final of the Indian Premier League is here and the match will be played between MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings and Eoin Morgan’s Kolkata Knight Riders at Dubai International Stadium.
The match begins at 7:30 PM (IST).
KKR make their way to the Finale of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League against all odds. First, they defeat RR with such a huge margin making sure they put up an impossible target for MI to make it to the playoffs.
Then they defeat the IPL favourite Royals Challengers Bangalore in the first eliminator. Not only this, in the second eliminator they defeat Delhi Capitals, a team that ranked 1st on the IPL points table and had defeated both MI and CSK on every meeting in this IPL.
KKR is clearly having the best time in terms of performances from their players.
Chennai Super Kings, a team who has made it to the IPL final 9th time, the most by any franchise in the history of IPL, and that’s despite their ban. CSK has won the IPL title 3 times.
In IPL 2021, however, KKR and CSK have met twice and both times CSK came out as winners.
Also, looking at the bigger picture, CSK and KKR have played 25 matches against each other and 16 of those matches were won by Chennai Super Kings. KKR won just 8 and there was 1 match which ended in No Result.
CSK Vs KKR Head To Head Stats
The last time CSK and KKR met was on the 26th of September in IPL 2021 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium. The match was a nail-biter and forced everyone to remain on the edge of their seats until the very end.
KKR won the toss and opted to bat first, they were in form and put up a score of 171 after losing 6 wickets. Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana and Dinesh Karthik were KKR’s top scorers for the match scoring 45 (33), unbeaten 37 (27) and 26 (11) respectively.
However, CSK were able to restrict KKR for a smaller total with regular wickets which otherwise would have gone beyond 200. Shardul Thakur and Josh Hazlewood, both, got 2 wickets in their 4 spells while Ravindra Jadeja, too, was able to take 1 wicket in his 4 overs and gave away just 21 runs.
When CSK came out to bat, they meant business, they did not lose a single wicket until the 9th over of the match with 74 runs on the scoreboard. However, tides shifted and KKR’s bowlers were abel to best CSK’s top batsmen.
Sunil Narine was the most successful bowler for KKR in terms of wickets, taking 3 wickets in his 4 spells but was a but expensive as he gave away 41 runs.
Prasidh Krishna, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakravarthy and Andre Russell all were able to take 1 wicket in the game.
Having said this, CSK were the better side overall and won the match in the final ball with Deepak Chahar scoring the final run. Sunil Narine took 2 wickets in the final over and was his most economical over in the match giving away just 4 runs.
Faf du Plessis, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Moeen Ali were the top scorers for CSK in the match scoring 43 (30), 40 (28) and 32 (28) respectively.
CSK won by 2 wickets and 0 balls remaining.
In total, these two sides have faced each other 25 times and 16 times of those the team in yellow went back as victorious, KKR won 8 while 1 match ended in No Result.
CSK Vs KKR Last 5 Encounters
26th September 2021: Chennai Super Kings won by 2 wickets
21st April 2021: Chennai Super Kings won by 18 runs
29th October 2020: Chennai Super Kings won by 6 wickets
7th October 2020: Kolkata Knight Riders won by 10 runs
14th April 2019: Chennai Super Kings won by 5 wickets
Additioanl Stats Of CSK Vs KKR
CSK highest score against KKR: 220
KKR highest score against CSK: 202
Highest Individual Score against CSK: 92 (Manvinder Bisla)
Highest Individual Score against KKR: 109 (Suresh Raina)
Most wickets for CSK against KKR: 16 (Ravichandran Ashwin & Ravindra Jadeja)
Most wickets for KKR against CSK: 19 (Sunil Narine)
Lowest CSK score against KKR: 114
Lowest KKR score against CSK: 108
Match Prediction:
Kolkata Knight riders have proved that they cannot be taken lightly, they have done everything, choked the road for the defending champions from reaching the playoffs with some incredible wins.
Then, KKR defeated the IPL winner-favourite in the 1st eliminator, RCB.
This was not enough, KKR also defeated DC, not only the team which finished first on the IPL points table but also defeated both CSK and MI every time they faced each other in IPL 2021, DC was the only team to do so in jot just IPL 2021 but all of IPL.
There is no way that KKR is not a team deserving to be in the finals of the Indian Premier League 2021.
Having said that, the majority of the matches KKR won, especially the 2 eliminators of IPL 2021, did not win in style, they were very, very close. In fact, the matches could have gone the other way as easily as it went their way.
Chennai Super Kings, on the other hand, are the favourites to win today’s match. They have been to the IPL finals the most number of times with 9 (including IPL 2021) and have won 3. Not even Mumbai Indians dominated appearances in IPL finales like this.
CSK has 2 batsmen in the top 5 with most runs this season, KKR has none. Both CSK and KKR’s top wicket-taking bowlers have the same number of wickets this season (18), however, Shardul Thakur from CSK has played 1 game less than KKR’s Varun Chakaravarthy.
We think CSK will win their 4th IPL title tonight.
