IPL 2019: Kolkata Knight Riders' probable playing XI against Chennai Super Kings

The Kolkata Knight Riders will face the table-toppers Chennai Super Kings in an evening game at the Eden Gardens on April 14th in match 29 of IPL 2019. Both the sides are in the top half of the table but CSK upstaged them when they met a few days back as the Chennai side were brilliant with the ball and restricted KKR to 109.

KKR lost to the Delhi Capitals post that as they failed to defend a score of 179 and struggled without Sunil Narine and Harry Gurney in their side.

KKR are slowly losing their hold at the top of the table and are slipping down the standings in the points table. CSK are always a tough team to play and even if they have the home advantage, KKR have to put on their A-game.

Let's take a look at KKR's probable playing XI for the game against Chennai Super Kings.

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Sunil Narine and Shubman Gill are expected to open the batting for KKR in this crucial game. Chris Lynn is unlikely to make a return despite Joe Denly's poor outing as Narine can open and Gill proved his worth with a good knock against Delhi. Narine will be the aggressor as the talented Gill will look to handle the CSK spinners and play big innings.

Robin Uthappa and Nitish Rana will be the team's mainstay in the middle order. Rana, especially, has struggled for runs after a great start to the tournament and will look to come back into form on a great batting pitch. Uthappa has looked good in every innings he has played but has failed to convert starts to big scores and will look to work on that.

Dinesh Karthik and Andre Russell will be the finishers for KKR and they have a huge role to play in this match. Andre Russel, in particular, holds the key to KKR's success.

Russell, meanwhile, has been the side's biggest strength and has delivered and he'll look to tonk the CSK bowlers to all parts of the stadium where the pitch supports his style of batting.

Carlos Brathwaite will be a utility all-rounder in the side and is likely to be given another chance due to his big-hitting reputation. He needs to prove himself at the Eden Gardens, the ground which earned him his name.

Piyush Chawla and Kuldeep Yadav will be the side's main spinners. The duo has had an average start to the season and needs to step up and release Russell of his pressure of being the only consistent performer.

Harry Gurney and Prasidh Krishna will be KKR's main pace bowlers in this match. Gurney did not play the last game and his replacement, Lockie Ferguson, was horrific on the night. Prasidh has bowled with intent and energy and his pace combined with some movement with the new ball can cause some problems for the troubled CSK top order.