Preview : CSK vs KKR: Inaugural IPL 2022, a rematch of IPL 2021 final but with the new Captains

The ecstasy that this carnival brings straight for two months is unmatchable. The inaugural match between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders at Wankhede Stadium is a repeat of the Indian Premier League 2021 final. Now with new faces and team combination. The major change that both the team will witness is their new captains. The defending champions Chennai Super Kings will now be headed by Ravindra Jadeja and Kolkata Knight Riders by Shreyas Iyer. 

New Captains and new challenges

Ravindra Jadeja’s biggest challenge as a new captain will come from the two-key players, Moeen Ali and Deepak Chahar are missing. Despite mega auctions, CSK has retained a lot of their experienced players. Ruturaj Gaikwad, Moeen Ali, Deepak Chahar, Ambati Rayudu, Dwayne Bravo, MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja will be joined by Devon Conway, Shivam Dube and Chris Jordan to constitute the yellow army. The leading run-scorer of the previous edition, Ruturaj Gaikwad, is set to open for Chennai Super Kings. With a new partner as previous opener, Faf du Plessis will be seen captaining for Royal Challengers Banglore.

On the other hand, Kolkata Knight Riders has seen nearly a complete shuffle, new Captain, and most fresh faces for the franchise. Shreyas Iyer will be seen in the shoes of leadership with retained players like Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer and Nitish Rana, alongside the new strong buys of Sam Billings, Ajinkya Rahane, Tim Southee and Mohammad Nabi, to name a few. Their massive buys, Pat Cummins and Aaron Finch, will be unavailable for a few matches. Venkatesh Iyer is likely to open along with Ajinkya Rahane this season.

The major challenge for both the captains will be in the form of finding the right fit for their key players who are unavailable due to injury, visa issues or international duties.

Head-to-head

Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders have met 26 times in the Indian Premier League until now. Of these, CSK carries an upper hand with 17 wins, whereas Kolkata Knight Riders managed to win only 8. They both have faced each other three times in the previous edition, in which CSK have won all three matches. 

Pitch at Wankhede

High scoring games are always on the cards as the pitch at Wankhede has been batting friendly. The pitch's short boundaries and even bounce makes it a bonus for batters. Dew at Wankhede always plays a massive role and the team winning toss first would be looking to bowl first. 

Number games of Stats

KKR has lost its previously played 8 matches at Wankhede Stadium. They carry the lowest win percentage (9%) at this ground amongst all the teams. It will be interesting to see if Shreyas Iyer led KKR can change their fate in this stadium in their opening match.

Varun Chakravarthy has dismissed Dhoni three times in three meetings in the IPL. 

Andre Russell has the record of hitting most sixes (23) to a single bowler, Dwayne Bravo in T20 format.

Ambati Rayudu stands just behind Kieron Pollard and Rohit Sharma, having the most runs at Wankhede in IPL.

The average first innings score on this wicket is 167 runs, where as team batting second here has excellent records to follow.

Probable XI

Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja (c), Robin Uthappa, MS Dhoni (wk), Dwayne Bravo, Shivam Dube, Mitchell Santner, Chris Jordan, Tushar Deshpande

Kolkata Knight Riders: Shreyas Iyer (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rinku Singh, Mohammad Nabi, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana, Andre Russell, Sam Billings (wk), Tim Southee, Varun Chakravarthy, Umesh Yadav

Players to watch out for: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Andre Russell, Ravindra Jadeja, Shreyas Iyer, Varun Chakravarthy

This new edition has filled the team with new energies and fans with even more excitement. While Fans will be missing MS Dhoni, the Captain, they will be excited to see MS Dhoni, the batsman. Kolkata Knight Riders' complete change in their team makes the competition even more interesting. 7:30 IST, be ready for the carnival to start.