Preview
Chennai and Kolkata, two unbeaten sides in the second leg so far in the ongoing Indian T20 League 2021, will face each other in the first game on Sunday. Chennai is just one step away from making it to the playoffs as they already have seven wins from nine matches. In the second leg, they have breezed past the strong teams like Mumbai and Bangalore and will be looking to continue their winning run.
As far as Kolkata is concerned, they have struck a perfect balance it seems after a troublesome first half. The team has climbed into the top four thanks to their superior net run-rate. But they can’t afford to relax as Mumbai and Rajasthan are in striking distance. With Chennai being their new challenge, it is time for Kolkata to step up their game even more to make it a hat-trick of wins.
Match Details
Indian T20 League, 2021 – Match 38: Chennai vs Kolkata
Date & Time: September 26, 2021; 3:30 PM IST
Venue – Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi.
Probable Playing XIs
Chennai
Faf du Plessis, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Moeen Ali, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (C & WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Josh Hazlewood
Kolkata
Venkatesh Iyer, Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan (C), Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakravarthy, Prasidh Krishna.
Top Picks
Ruturaj Gaikwad
Kolkata team opens the bowling with spinners and the man who can sweep them off is Ruturaj Gaikwad. The Chennai opener knows how to disturb line and lengths of the spinners and he will be key. Gaikwad played a match-winning knock against Mumbai to start with the second leg and also smacked 38 off 26 balls against Bangalore. He is in good touch with the bat as well which makes him a top pick for this match.
Lockie Ferguson
Lockie Ferguson doing well has solved so many problems for Kolkata so far. Their death bowling is more or less sorted with the Kiwi bowler nailing his yorkers. His figures in the last two games read 2/24 and 2/27 which proves that he is in the zone to deliver for this side.
Fantasy Team of 11 Players
MS Dhoni, Venkatesh Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Faf du Plessis (VC), Rahul Tripathi, Andre Russell (C), Dwayne Bravo, Sunil Narine, Josh Hazlewood, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakravarthy.
2nd Innings Fantasy Tips
Case 1 – If Chennai is batting
MS Dhoni, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu (VC), Faf du Plessis (C), Suresh Raina, Andre Russell, Ravindra Jadeja, Sunil Narine, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakravarthy, Prasidh Krishna.
Case 2 – If Kolkata is batting
Dinesh Karthik, Venkatesh Iyer (C), Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan, Nitish Rana, Andre Russell, Ravindra jadeja, Dwayne Bravo (VC), Josh Hazlewood, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur.
