Venue: Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
Time: 7:30 PM IST
Average score at venue (1st inns): 164
Win percentage while batting first: 33.33%
Pitch conditions:
- The pitch at the Wankhede Stadium is replete with runs for batsmen but can be expected to have a cover of fresh grass on the top of the surface, since the venue is slated to host a total of 20 out of the 70 league stage matches this season.
- There will be something for everyone involved in the first match of the 2022 edition of the Indian T20 Cricket League. But traditionally, fast bowlers have had more success at the Wankhede Stadium with 70.48% of the wickets falling in their kitty while spin bowlers getting the remaining 29.52%.
Weather prediction:
It will remain mostly sunny on Saturday with extreme humidity being prevalant in the city of Mumbai. The temperature will be at a high of 30°C towards the end of the day while there won't be much difference after the sunset, with the mercury dropping down by 1°C. The humidity levels will linger around 65-70% during the match hours on Saturday night in Mumbai.
HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD (overall):
Matches played: 26
Chennai won: 17
Kolkata won: 8
No result: 1
Top 3 players from Chennai: Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway
Top 3 players from Kolkata: Shreyas Iyer, Varun Chakravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer
Top picks for H2H/WTA conTest (top 5 players each):
Top 5 players from Chennai: Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Dwayne Bravo, M Dhonii
Top 5 players from Kolkata: Shreyas Iyer, Varun Chakravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Nitish Rana
Q & A:
Should I pick more bowlers, batsmen or all-rounders?
It is a fresh start in a new era of the Indian T20 Cricket League for both Chennai and Kolkata with change in leadership as well as squad composition. Both the teams will take field on Saturday night looking to assess their match-readiness and determine their best playing combinations, which means that picking fantasy cricket XI for online fantasy cricket contests will be a tricky task at the start of this year's tournament. Going by the traditional way, adding more to the batting strength will be the right approach while packing the bowling attack with fast bowlers and a couple of spin bowling options would not hurt much.
From which team should I pick more players in my XI? Which team is stronger?
Both Chennai and Kolkata have been able to refurbish the squads with fresh faces while retaining most of their first choice players. For Chennai, the intention of M Dhonii was an obvious one but they have shown tremendous amount of faith in appointing Ravindra Jadeja as their captain for this year, while retaining Ruturaj Gaikwad was a promising move keeping the future in mind. At the same time, Kolkata have been able to find an excellent leadership option in Shreyas Iyer following the exit of 2019 World Cup winner Eoin Morgan, but the unavailability of Pat Cummins to lead their fast bowling attack in the initial stage of the tournament is something that will be a cause of concern for the two-time title winners. At this juncture, it would be wrong to assess which team is stronger and a wait-and-watch policy would be the right approach to determine the same.
MORE INFORMATION: Both Chennai and Kolkata will be without some of their key players who are either busy in international assignments or were not able to link up with their respective teams, which is the case with Chennai star all-rounder Moeen Ali. The English all-rounder was not able to link up with Chennai on time owing to delay in visa papers, but it has been reported that Moeen Ali will be available for the four-time title winners from the second day onwards. Kolkata too will be without their opening batsman Aaron Finch who had replaced Englishman Alex Hales in the lead up to the tournament. Finch is currently headed to Pakistan to take part in the limited-overs leg of Australia's tour, which means that the right-handed aggressive opening batsman will miss a few initial games for his new Indian T20 Cricket League team.
Players’ form: Cricket fans in general and those from the Kolkata camp will be eager to watch Shreyas Iyer bring in his red-hot form from international circuit into the stage of Indian T20 Cricket League. The middle-order batsmen has been terrific for India and international circuit and his arrival in the Kolkata camp certainly takes care of their requirement of having a captain who can get runs as well, after the failure of Eoin Morgan to do so. For Chennai, it will be a litmus test as they will be without some of their key batsmen such as Faf du Plessis and Suresh Raina who are no longer a part of the franchise anymore, which means that pressure and expectations will double up on the young Ruturaj Gaikwad, who came out with flying colours for last year’s winners, and the experienced Ambati Rayudu.
Changes in squad (if any): YES
LIKELY XIs:
CHENNAI: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Robin Uthappa, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja (c), M Dhonii (wk), Shivam Dube, Dwayne Bravo, Mitchell Santner, Adam Milne, Rajvardhan Hangargekar.
KOLKATA: Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana, Shreyas Iyer (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Andre Russel, Sam Billings (wk), Tim Southee, Sunil Narine, Umesh Yadav, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy.
FANTASY XI: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana, M Dhonii (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Dwayne Bravo, Tim Southee, Varun Chakravarthy, Adam Milne.
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Chennai, Kolkata set for fresh start in new era of Indian T20 League
Last year’s finalists Chennai and Kolkata will kick off action in the 15th edition of the Indian T20 Cricket League 2022 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday, facing off in the first contest of the tournament which will have an overall 70 matches in the league round played between 10 teams two of which are new.
Both Chennai and Kolkata will be embarking in a new era with change in leadership as well as personnel being witnessed in the lead up to theIndian T20 Cricket League 2022 tournament. Chennai will have a new captain in the form of world's best all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, whereas Kolkata will be captained by the promising Indian middle-order batsman Shreyas Iyer, who might be an Indian captain sometime in the future.
Chennai will take the field on Saturday without some of their biggest names in Suresh Raina and Faf du Plessis, two cricketers who served the franchise for several years with consistent performances, loyalty as well as dedication. ut they have some young and untested talent at their disposal to take the franchise ahead, under the guidance of some heavyweight players.
The young Ruturaj Gaikwad has emerged as the biggest batting hope for Chennai who also have the likes of Dhonii, Jadeja, Ambati Rayudu, Robin Uthappa, Moeen Ali, Devon Conway, Dwayne Bravo, Mitchell Santner and Maheesh Theekshana as likely candidates to fill up the playing XI.
Jadeja has not led a senior team in his long career for India as well as Chennai — whom he joined in 2012 — but will have the experience and expertise of Dhonii, who continues to serve the team as a player in the Indian T20 Cricket League 2022 tournament.
Following his late arrival and link up with the team, England all-rounder Moeen Ali who has turned out to be one of the key players for Chennai in the Indian T20 Cricket League, will miss the opening match against Kolkata and will be available for selection from the second game onwards.
At the same time, Kolkata too will be without the services of Aaron Finch, who is headed to Pakistan to take part in the limited-overs leg of Australia's ongoing tour. Finch was not a first-choice player for Kolkata, as he was picked by the franchise after England's Alex Hales pulled out.
But the biggest attraction will be Shreyas Iyer in the Kolkata camp who has joined them this year and will be the captain going ahead.
The 27-year-old has emerged as one of the most important player for India across formats in recent months and his arrival at Kolkata, with past experience of leading Delhi, makes it a promising watch not only for the fans of the franchisee but for those who have been closely following the league and players that it has produced as well as nurtured.
Iyer will have some exciting talent at his disposal to pick from which includes India's Venkatesh Iyer, Varun Chakravarthy, Umesh Yadav, Sheldon Jackson, Ajinkya Rahane, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Shivam Mavi, Anukul Roy whereas other big names from overseas such as Pat Cummins, Sam Billings, Mohammad Nabi, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell and Tim Southee.
