Welcome to Sportstar‘s LIVE coverage of the IPL 2022 opening clash between CSK and KKR. This is Santadeep Dey, bringing you all the action from the Wankhede Stadium.

LIVE COMMENTARY

06-44 PM IST: KKR’s Shreyas Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane, and Sam Billings have received their caps.

06-31 PM IST: “Tushar Deshpande, Rajvardhan Hangargekar and Adam Milne have marked their run-ups at the Wankhede Stadium,” tweets Amol Karhadkar from the venue.

TOSS

The toss is scheduled to take place at 7PM IST.

DREAM11 FANTASY TEAM PREDICTION

Wicketkeeper: Sam Billings (wk)

Batters: Ambati Rayudu, Devon Conway, Shreyas Iyer (vc), Ruturaj Gaikwad

All-rounders: Ravindra Jadeja (c), Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer

Bowlers: Umesh Yadav, Adam Milne, Varun Chakaravarthy

Team Composition: CSK 5-6 KKR | Credits left: 1.0

HEAD-TO-HEAD NUMBERS

All-time: Overall matches: 28, CSK won: 18, KKR won: 9, NR: 1

Last 5 games: CSK: 4, KKR: 1

Last meeting: CSK won by 27 runs, CSK 192/3 (20 overs), KKR 165/9

HIGHEST/LOWEST SCORES

HS (CSK) vs KKR: 220

LS (CSK) vs KKR: 55

HS (KKR) vs CSK: 202

LS (KKR) vs CSK: 61

PREDICTED PLAYING XI

Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Robin Uthappa, Devon Conway, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja (c),  Shivam Dube, MS Dhoni (wk), Dwayne Bravo, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Chris Jordan, Adam Milne

Kolkata Knight Riders: Venkatesh Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, Sam Billings (wk), Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Chamika Karunaratne, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy, Umesh Yadav

STARS OF CSK vs KKR, KKR vs CSK

Most runs: Suresh Raina 610 (CSK), MS Dhoni 442 (CSK), Faf du Plessis 423 (CSK)

Highest individual score: Faf du Plessis 95* (CSK), Manvinder Bisla 92 (KKR)

Leading wicket-takers: Sunil Narine 20 (KKR), Ravichandran Ashwin 16 (CSK), Ravindra Jadeja 16 (CSK)

MATCH PREVIEW

Not many would have anticipated Ravindra Jadeja and Shreyas Iyer walking out for the toss of the Indian Premier League opener between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders, a repeat of the previous edition’s final as per the IPL convention.

While M. S. Dhoni formally handed over the reins to Jadeja two days before Saturday’s opening fixture, Shreyas took over after the Knight Riders won the battle of bids in the auction enclosure. It will be interesting to see how Jadeja, the most expensive of the four retained CSK cricketers, juggles between his duties as his team’s lead all-rounder and his duties as the captain, of course with the man behind the wickets lending the much-needed support.

Missing key players

Both the teams are going to miss some of their key players. While the Knight Riders will be without Australia’s Test captain Pat Cummins for the first three games, Kiwi veteran Tim Southee will not be available for the tournament opener. Confirming Southee’s unavailability, KKR head coach Brendon McCullum indicated that the team will look for an alternative Indian pacer.

READ | IPL schedule: Full fixtures of league matches, dates, venues, timings

It may result in Umesh Yadav getting a game at the start of his second stint with KKR.

The Super Kings also have to deal with absentees in a bid to defend their crown. With Deepak Chahar set to miss a majority of the IPL, CSK management is considering whether to draft in Rajvardhan Hangargekar or Tushar Deshpande in his place for the opener. While Hangargekar has the advantage of being an all-rounder, Deshpande has the advantage of being familiar with the set-up as a net bowler in UAE last year and the conditions, having plied his trade in and around Mumbai since his formative years.

Shreyas Iyer (left) and Ravindra Jadeja during a practice session.   –  PTI

CSK also has to cope with Moeen Ali’s absence on Saturday as the England all-rounder joined the squad late due to visa problems.

Irrespective of the personnel, the two captains with the team sheet in their hand for the toss around dusk will surely signify the dawn of a new era in IPL.

– Amol Karhadkar

SQUADS

Chennai Super Kings: Ravindra Jadeja (c), MS Dhoni, Moeen Ali, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Dwayne Bravo, Ambati Rayudu, Robin Uthappa, Deepak Chahar, KM Asif, Tushar Deshpande, KM Asif, Shivam Dube, Maheesh Theekshana, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Samarjeet Singh, Devon Conway, Dwaine Pretorius, Mitchell Santner, Subhranshu Senapati, Adam Milne, Mukesh Choudhary, Prashant Solanki, C Hari Nishaanth, N Jagadeesan, Chris Jordan, K Bhagath Varma.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Pat Cummins, Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer, Sunil Narine, Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, Shivam Mavi, Sheldon Jackson, Ajinkya Rahane, Rinku Singh, Anukul Roy, Rasikh Dar, B Indrajith, Abhijeet Tomar, Pratham Singh, Ashok Sharma, Sam Billings, Alex Hales, Ramesh Kumar, Mohammad Nabi, Umesh Yadav, Aman Khan.

WHERE TO WATCH IPL 2022 LIVE?

All IPL 2022 matches will be broadcast live on Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1 HD, Star Sports 3, and Star Sports 3 HD channels in India. Disney+ Hotstar is the official live streaming partner.