Another new Indian Premier League (IPL) season, another new start and most importantly a fresh beginning for both Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knights Riders under Ravindra Jadeja and Shreyas Iyer respectively at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday.
CSK begin their title defence against KKR in the IPL 2022 opener – a repeat of last year’s final in Dubai. The Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders opening IPL 2022 encounter starts at 7:30 PM IST. Star Sports owns the broadcast rights for the Indian Premier League.
Viewers can watch the CSK vs KKR encounter on Star Sports1,Star Sports 1 HD, Star Sports 2, Star Sports 2 HD, Star Sports 1 Hindi, Star Sports 1 HD Hindi, Star Sports 1 Tamil, Star Sports 1 Telugu, Star Sports 1 Kannada, Star Sports 1 Bangla, Star Sports Select 1 and Star Sports Select 1 HD.
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Disney+ Hotstar will live stream the Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders encounter from 7:30 PM IST.
MS Dhoni did a Dhoni by giving up CSK captaincy on Friday and passing on the baton to Ravindra Jadeja. While his decision did not come as a shock, it has fuelled speculation whether he would feature in all the games. (CSK Team Profile | Schedule)
The 40-year-old stepping aside has also put the spotlight on Jadeja, who will be captaining a high-profile team for the very first time. Jadeja's stellar form in international cricket over the last couple of years would surely give him the confidence to lead from the front and in times of crisis, he will anyway have Dhoni by his side.
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On the other hand, Iyer will lead a new-look KKR side after he was bought by the two-time champions at the mega auction this year for a whopping Rs 12.25 crore. Having led Delhi Capitals to their first-ever final, Iyer was sidelined from captaincy following a shoulder injury. (KKR Team Profile | Schedule)
The Mumbai batter decided to go back into the auction and KKR paid big money for his services. The stylish batter has shown rich form for India of late and he will be hoping to carry that into the IPL and inspire KKR to their third title.
During the retentions, CSK retained Dhoni, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Jadeja, and Moeen Ali. They also brought back players like Ambati Rayudu, Robin Uthappa, Dwayne Bravo and Deepak Chahar among others.
The franchise have also signed some big new names in Devon Conway and Chris Jordan alongside a plethora of Indian youngsters in Rajyavardhan Hangargekar, Subhranshu Senapati among others. However, CSK will miss the services of Moeen Ali against KKR since the Englishman arrived late due to some visa issues.
Meanwhile, KKR retained Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, and Venkatesh Iyer. In the auction, KKR bought back crucial players like Iyer, Pat Cummins, Nitish Rana, and Shivam Mavi besides adding the experiences of Ajinkya Rahane, Aaron Finch, Mohammad Nabi among others. Umesh Yadav, who had played for KKR before is also back.
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Squads:
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja (C), Deepak Chahar, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Moeen Ali, KM Asif, Robin Uthappa, Dwayne Bravo, Tushar Deshpande, Ambati Rayudu (wk), Shivan Dube, Maheesh Theekshana, Devon Conway, Dwaine Pretorius, Simranjeet Singh, Subhranshu Senapati, Bhagath Varma, Chris Jordan, Hari Nishaanth, Adam Milne, N Jagadeesan (wk), Mukesh Choudhary, Prashant Solanki, Mitchell Santner, Rajvardhan Hangargekar.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Shreyas Iyer (C), Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Sheldon Jackson (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Shivam Mavi, Ajinkya Rahane, Sunil Narine, Chamika Karunaratne, Rinku Singh, Pat Cummins, Rasikh Salam, Baba Inderjith, Anukul Roy, Ashok Sharma, Abhijit Tomar, Mohammad Nabi, Tim Southee, Sam Billings (wk), Umesh Yadav, Aaron Finch, Nitish Rana, Pratham Singh, Ramesh Kumar, Aman Hakim Khan.
