KKR vs CSK Playing 11: Ajinkya Rahane-led Kolkata Knight Riders will square off against MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings in the 57th match of the IPL 2025 season on May 07 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
With Kolkata still in the playoff race, the upcoming clash is a must-win game against Chennai. They have five wins out of 11 games with wins against Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Capitals, Sunrisers Hyderabad and two fixtures against Rajasthan Royals.
Meanwhile, Chennai were eliminated from the playoffs race with only two wins out of 11 games. Their wins come in the games against the Mumbai Indians and Lucknow Super Giants.
With CSK in the 10th position, Kolkata Knight Riders are in the 6th position of the IPL 2025 points table.
🚨 Toss 🚨@KKRiders won the toss and elected to bat against @ChennaiIPL
Updates ▶️ https://t.co/ydH0hsB7rk #TATAIPL | #KKRvCSK pic.twitter.com/fZ2UKkxAY4
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 7, 2025
Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and opted to bat. Speaking at the toss, KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane said, We will bat first. Looks a good wicket. Last two games we batted first and did really well. We want to put runs on the board and defend it. What’s important is taking one game at a time.”
“Not thinking much about the future. Lots of learnings from the previous match, guys are looking forward to this game. You are bound to lose close games, but you need to be confident,” he added.
“If there’s a chance, we will try to give our best. Venkatesh Iyer misses out, Manish Pandey comes in,” concluded Rahane.
On the other hand, CSK captain MS Dhoni said, “I have played a lot of cricket here while growing up, like a home ground for the amount of cricket I have played here. When it was Zonal trophy, a few office leagues, overall I have played a lot of cricket here and nearby.”
“What’s important is to get answers for the next year. What hasn’t gone well for us in the tournament. Trying to get those answers, our middle order batting and bowling solutions.”
“We are giving chances to players, but we want a good playing XI or XII. You can try such things towards the end. What players will slot in. They have two quality spinners, so it will be a challenge. Conway and Urvil Patel come in for Rasheed and Curran,” conclude MS Dhoni.
KKR vs CSK Playing 11
Kolkata Knight Riders Playing 11: Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Manish Pandey, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Moeen Ali, Ramandeep Singh, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy
Chennai Super Kings Playing 11: Ayush Mhatre, Urvil Patel, Devon Conway, Ravindra Jadeja, Dewald Brevis, Ravichandran Ashwin, MS Dhoni(w/c), Anshul Kamboj, Noor Ahmad, Khaleel Ahmed, Matheesha Pathirana
