Vikrant Shekhawat : Mar 26, 2022, 10:34 AM
The first match of the 15th season of IPL will be between four-time champion Chennai Super Kings and two-time title-winning Kolkata Knight Riders. This will be the inaugural match of both the teams at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday (March 26). The captaincy of Chennai is in the hands of Ravindra Jadeja for the first time and the captaincy of Kolkata for the first time in the hands of Shreyas Iyer. Both the new captains have the challenge of choosing the right playing-11 for the first match.Chennai will not get the services of Moeen Ali, Deepak Chahar and Dwayne Pretorius. At the same time, the Kolkata team will go without their two Australian legends Aaron Finch and Pat Cummins. So far 26 matches have been played between the two teams. During this, Chennai has won 17. At the same time, Kolkata has got success in just seven matches. There was no result in one match.Chennai Batting: Robin Uthappa can play third and Ambati Rayudu at fourth order due to absence of Moeen Ali. Devon Conway of New Zealand can open the innings along with Rituraj Gaikwad. Captain Jadeja is likely to be fifth, Shivam Dubey sixth and Mahendra Singh Dhoni seventh. Dwayne Bravo can land at the eighth order.Chennai Bowling: In the absence of Deepak Chahar, Chennai may face difficulties in bowling. Fast bowlers Adam Milne and Chris Jordan are likely to play. Mumbai's young Prashant Solanki may get a chance in the spin department. Jadeja, Shivam Dubey and Dwayne Bravo can also do wonders in the bowling.Kolkata Batting: Shubman Gill and Rahul Chahar have not been with the team this season. Aaron Finch will also not play at least in the first five matches. Ajinkya Rahane can open the innings with Venkatesh Iyer. Shreyas Iyer can land at third, Nitish Rana fourth and Sam Billings at fifth order. After him, Andre Russell and Sunil Narine will be seen in the role of finishers.Kolkata bowling: Tim Southee will take over the reins of bowling due to the absence of Pat Cummins. He did a good job in the end for the team in the last season as well. Shivam Mavi and Umesh Yadav will be the other fast bowlers. Varun Chakraborty will handle the spin department along with Naren.Probable Playing-11 of Chennai Super KingsRituraj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Robin Uthappa, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja (c), Shivam Dubey, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Dwayne Bravo, Chris Jordan, Adam Milne and Prashant Solanki.Probable Playing-11 for Kolkata Knight RidersVenkatesh Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer (c), Nitish Rana, Sam Billings (wk), Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Tim Southee, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakraborty, Umesh Yadav.