CSK vs KKR pre-match analysis : Kings or Knights, if partnerships prevail team prevails

Chennai

Kolkata Knight Riders who has learnt a lesson from a very close loss in a high-scoring match will be keen to go all guns blazing against Chennai Super Kings who is enjoying the highs of a commanding win against Kings XI Punjab.

Both the teams are facing problems with the opening pair and are still experimenting their batting combination.For CSK, however, the Watson- Du Plessis opening has reaped dividends. The men in yellow now has the luxury to not try something extravagant, and put this pair to test in coming games to see the stability of the same.Middle order issues do persist but if the top three shines, then the rest just needs to slog a few across the boundary. Bravo, Curran and Jadeja fits the bill for that.

KKR, on the flipside, has failed miserably with Sunil Narine as an opener and needs to work on the dynamics in the batting department.It's high time for KKR to realise that a star batsman like Eoin Morgan cannot be sent to play at number 6. This would be a perfect chance to even experiment with him opening for the team as KKR has never sustained its first wicket partnership beyond the powerplay so far this season.

CSK cannot take a sigh of relief in their bowling department as they might be put into test when they are asked to defend rather than chase.The team still haven't filled the attacking wicket taking bowlers' void left by Makhaya Ntini, Doug Bollinger and Ravichandran Ashwin. Occasional flourish by Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar is just not enough. Yet, Dhoni would not consider the popular opinion of replacing Piyush Chawla with South African spinner Imran Tahir as his foreign player mix seems to work well currently.

Winning toss and batting or bowling hasn't overwhelmingly favoured any team in this season so far, so those sentiments could be put to rest.

In general, both the teams should give the other a hard time to take their first 2 wickets but a strong partnership without a good run rate would encumber the purpose.

Over-dependence on one or two players has costed heavily for CSK in their previous outings against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals. Sunday's match against Punjab was an antithesis to the hitherto Chennai batting, an antithesis worth looking up to.

It will be really interesting if KKR does some really beneficial change to its batting line-up and CSK defends a total, the freshness such a prospect offers would guarantee a cracker of a game.