KKR vs CSK IPL 2020 Match 21: Kolkata Knight Riders opt to bat for 1st time since 2015

Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday did something which they haven’t done in more than 5 years as they won the toss and opted to bat first in Match 21 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 against Chennai Super Kings.

The last time KKR won the toss and opted to bat in the IPL was way back in May, 2015, which was 69 matches ago. Teams in IPL 2020 have preferred to chase rather than bat first so far, even CSK skipper MS Dhoni said he was happy with Karthik’s decision as they wanted to chase anyway.

Dinesh Karthik called it right at the toss, and also announced that his side remains unchanged from their previous game.

“We’ll bat first. In the last two games when we batted first we did a good job. We have gone back to the drawing board to see what we can do. We’re playing the same XI,” Karthik said at the toss. (KKR vs CSK, IPL 2020 Live)

KKR though, have changed their batting lineup for this game as Rahul Tripathi has been asked to open with Shubman Gill with Sunil Narine dropping down the order due to his poor run with the bat this season.

Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Shubman Gill, Sunil Narine, Nitish Rana, Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik(w/c), Eoin Morgan, Rahul Tripathi, Pat Cummins, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy

CSK on the other hand, have made one change with leg-spinner Karn Sharma replacing Piyush Chawla in their playing XI.

“We’ve been chasing all this while anyway. We’ve had a few bad games and a few good ones, but we’re ready to do anything.

“As the tournament progresses, you adapt to new questions and that is what happened in the last game. The openers’ approach was great to see. We have one change – Karn Sharma instead of Piyush Chawla,” Dhoni said at the toss.

CSK won their last game by 10 wickets against Kings XI Punjab which brought an end to their 3-match losing streak and climb to the 5th spot from last. KKR are just one place above the Super Kings in 4th.

Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni(w/c), Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Sam Curran, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Karn Sharma





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