The opening match of the IPL 2022 season is a repeat of the final from last year as the Chennai Super Kings begin their title defence against the team they beat to win the tournament in the form of the Kolkata Knight Riders.
That final was played out in the UAE last term but these two IPL heavyweights clash at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday with both looking to get their season off to a fast start ahead of the campaign to come.
Chennai Super Kings
While the Chennai Super Kings are no strangers to winning and defending this title, they will be doing so this term under a new captain after MS Dhoni stood down earlier in the week. He has been replaced by Ravi Jadeja and it will be interesting to see how long Dhoni remains in the side because his output as a batter in recent times has clearly waned and he is getting no younger. For now though he should be behind the stumps to offer assistance to Jadeja in his maiden IPL captaincy stint.
If Chennai are going to get off to a winning start then they will need their relatively new look batting order to fire. There is no Faf du Plessis or Suresh Raina anymore and Moeen Ali will be missing this match after a visa issue caused a delay in him arriving into India. There is also a hole left with the ball after Deepak Chahar was ruled out of the early stage of the competition with injury so there are certainly a few questions for the Super Kings to answer in this season opener.
Kolkata Knight Riders
It isn’t just the Chennai Super Kings who will be under new leadership in this tournament. Eoin Morgan is a thing of the past in Kolkata and he has been replaced by Shreyas Iyer who has arrived from the Delhi Capitals to lead the side. On the face of it this looks a fairly strong Kolkata outfit, but as ever with them a lot of that will depend on the impact their West Indian star pair of Andre Russell and Sunil Narine can make.
One thing Kolkata certainly don’t lack for is batting depth. They never really have but there is a chance that Shivam Mavi comes in at nine in this match and he won’t be the worst in that position. One concern the Knight Riders need to overcome is that their top three have a look about them that could see them get bogged down and put too much pressure on the likes of Sam Billings, Andre Russell and Sunil Narine. They need to ensure that doesn’t happen on a fast scoring ground here.
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Key Players
With Moeen Ali not around Ravi Jadeja was always going to be a key player in this match but now that he has been handed the captaincy he is even more important to the Chennai Super Kings. He has been in good form with the bat over the last period of time and his canny spin will be important.
All eyes will be on Andre Russell for the Kolkata Knight Riders as it always is. He will have conditions to suit his powerful batting and then he is likely to be asked to bowl the key overs of the innings. It would be a huge boost to the chances of Kolkata moving forward if Russell can hit the ground running here.
Betting
I’m expecting a high scoring start to this new IPL season with the wicket at Wankhede always great for batting with the ball coming onto the bat nicely and there not really being much in it for the bowlers. Kolkata Knight Riders often used spin throughout the powerplay last season to get themselves on top in the match but they don’t really have that option here with the pitch likely to play as well as it is expected to do.
Both these teams are full of batting depth. Kolkata could have Sunil Narine coming in at seven while Chennai Super Kings could have Dwayne Bravo batting as low as eight so that means both sides can play with a bit of freedom at the top of the innings. That put together means I like the idea of a plethora of boundaries for this opening match of the competition. The line certainly reflects that likelihood of them coming along at 42.5 but I think these two can cover it.
Tips
Back Over 42.5 boundaries for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill
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