With four consecutive defeats behind them and just one win so far this season, the former champions are languishing in ninth place
Chennai: Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will be desperate to turn their fortunes around when they take on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Match 25 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the M A Chidambaram Stadium here on Friday. With four consecutive defeats behind them and just one win so far this season, the former champions are languishing in ninth place, and pressure is mounting with every game.
While CSK showed glimpses of revival in their last outing against Punjab Kings particularly with the bat in a spirited chase of 219, the 18-run loss underlined their struggle to string together a complete performance.
Head coach Stephen Fleming expressed dissatisfaction with the team’s failure to capitalise on home conditions at Chepauk, a venue that has traditionally been their fortress. The slow and tricky surface that used to favour CSK’s spin-heavy attack has played differently this season, contributing to their woes.
For CSK, the onus again will be on senior pros like Dhoni, who provided a late blitz with a 12-ball 27 in the last match, to rally the troops. Rachin Ravindra, Devon Conway, and Shivam Dube have some welcome runs under their belts and will look to build on that momentum.
In the bowling department, CSK will rely on the pace trio of Mukesh Choudhary, Matheesha Pathirana, and Khaleel Ahmed. At the same time, the spin attack will once again be spearheaded by Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, and Noor Ahmad all of whom will need to rediscover their sting at Chepauk.
On the other side, defending champions KKR arrive in Chennai after a narrow four-run defeat to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at home. With two wins in five games and placed sixth on the table, they too need consistency. Their bowlers came under fire at Eden Gardens, and a better effort will be expected on the more spin-friendly surface in Chennai.
KKR’s batting, however, continues to look threatening. Quinton de Kock has shown form, and with the likes of Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, and Angkrish Raghuvanshi in the ranks, the Knight Riders will look to post a big total or chase one down with confidence.
Match Date: Friday, April 11
Venue: MA Chidambaram Stadium.
Live broadcast: on Star Sports Network and live streaming on JioHotstar.
Squads: Kolkata Knight Riders: Quinton de Kock (wk), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Manish Pandey, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Spencer Johnson, Varun Chakaravarthy, Anrich Nortje, Vaibhav Arora, Anukul Roy, Luvnith Sisodia, Moeen Ali, Rovman Powell, Mayank Markande, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Chetan Sakariya.
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (c&wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Matheesha Pathirana, Noor Ahmad, Ravichandran Ashwin, Devon Conway, Syed Khaleel Ahmed, Rachin Ravindra, Rahul Tripathi, Vijay Shankar, Sam Curran, Shaik Rashid, Anshul Kamboj, Mukesh Choudhary, Deepak Hooda, Gurjanpreet Singh, Nathan Ellis, Jamie Overton, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Ramakrishnan Ghosh, Shreyas Gopal, Vansh Bedi, Andre Siddarth.
