Under-fire Kolkata Knight Riders captain Dinesh Karthik will have to figure out urgent fixes for his star-studded team’s faltering performances when they take on a resurgent Chennai Super Kings in the IPL at Sharjah on Wednesday.

KKR acquired England’s World Cup-winning skipper Eoin Morgan but the management reposed confidence in Karthik and asked him to lead the side.

However, a few of his baffling decisions apart from his own poor run with the bat – 37 runs from four matches – have put the Indian wicketkeeper-batsman in the line of fire.

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Promoting himself ahead of the star duo of Morgan and Andre Russell and preferring Sunil Narine in the opening slot over Big Bash sensation Tom Banton – who has been compared with Kevin Pietersen – has put 35-year-old Karthik in the dock.

Narine has looked woefully out of sorts, managing only 27 runs from four matches at a strike rate of 87.09 and it’s high time that the team brings in the big-hitting English youngster.

KKR in IPL 2020

Match Day/Date/Time Venue Result Total points
KKR vs MI 23 Sep, Wed (1930) Abu Dhabi KKR lost by 49 runs 0
KKR vs SRH 26 Sep, Sat (1930) Abu Dhabi KKR won by 7 wickets 2
RR vs KKR 30 Sep, Wed (1930) Dubai KKR won by 37 runs 4
DC vs KKR 3 Oct, Sat (1930) Sharjah KKR lost by 18 runs 4

CSK in IPL 2020

Match Day/Date/Time Venue Result Total points 
MI vs CSK 19 Sep, Sat (1930) Abu Dhabi CSK won by 5 wickets 2
RR vs CSK 22 Sep, Tue (1930) Sharjah CSK lost by 16 runs 2
CSK vs DC 25 Sep, Fri (1930) Dubai CSK lost by 44 runs 2
CSK vs SRH 2 Oct, Fri (1930) Dubai CSK lost by 7 runs 2
KXIP vs CSK 4 Oct, Sun (1930) Dubai CSK won by 10 wickets 4

KKR have plenty of resources in bowling but Karthik has struggled to get the best out of them and their match against Delhi Capitals could be a case in point.

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Pat Cummins’ not-so-impressive performance has added to the team’s woes.

The pitch in Sharjah is a batsman’s paradise and both teams cantered past the 200-mark but it’s the bowlers who made the difference in a close chase.

The pair of Morgan and Rahul Tripathi looked to seal it but Delhi’s bowlers bowled well at the death.

Karthik will need to back his bowlers, especially lead spinner Kuldeep Yadav who seems to have been under-utilised and bowled just nine overs after being dropped from the Delhi game.

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Chennai, on the other hand, have rediscovered some of the form that made them three-time champions. After three losses on the trot, the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led side would look to make its ascent to top-four from being at the bottom.

Not known to tweak his side much, Dhoni persisted with Shane Watson and the Aussie veteran finally delivered with an unbeaten 83.

Chasing 179 against Kings XI Punjab, Watson and Faf du Plessis made light work of their bowlers with a record 181-run unbeaten stand to seal the chase.

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With the openers back among runs, CSK have managed to put their miserable start behind them and having done that, they will start favourites against KKR. But in the IPL, it only takes an over or two to change one’s fortunes and both teams will be aware of that.

Head-to-head

Span Matches CSK wins KKR wins
2008-2019 20 13 7

Squads

CSK squad

Batsmen Bowlers All-rounders Wicketkeepers
Ruturaj Gaikwad Lungi Ngidi Dwayne Bravo MS Dhoni
Faf du Plessis Deepak Chahar Ravindra Jadeja N Jagadeesan
Shane Watson Karn Sharma Mitchell Santner
Ambati Rayudu Imran Tahir Sam Curran
M Vijay Shardul Thakur
Kedar Jadhav Monu Kumar
KM Asif
R. Sai Kishore
Piyush Chawla
Josh Hazlewood
KKR squad
Batsmen Bowlers All-rounders Wicketkeepers
Nitish Rana Kuldeep Yadav Andre Russell Dinesh Karthik
Rinku Singh Prasidh Krishna Sunil Narine Nikhil Shankar Naik
Shubman Gill Sandeep Warrier Pat Cummins
Siddhesh Lad Shivam Mavi Varun Chakravarthy
Eoin Morgan Kamlesh Nagarkoti Chris Green
Rahul Tripathi Lockie Ferguson
Tom Banton M Siddharth
Ali Khan

Match starts at 7.30 pm IST and will be live on Star Sports network / Disney+ Hotstar

(With PTI inputs)