Just two teams remain in the Indian Premier League, as the Grand Final will be staged on Friday. Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders will be the two teams fighting it out for the huge T20 honour, but which one of the franchises will be crowned champions?
IPL Final Preview
The Chennai Super Kings ended the regular season in second place overall in the standings, as they look to win a fourth IPL title. Their last success came back in 2018, but they look good value to end their wait. Chennai were hanging on to their spot in second over the final couple of rounds of fixtures, as they lost their last three in the regular season.
However, they made no mistake in the qualifier, as they beat the Delhi Capitals by four wickets. Josh Hazlewood took two wickets from his four overs, while the majority of the scoring was done by Ruturaj Gaikwad, who finished with 70 from 50 balls. That tally saw him awarded player of the match.
Gaikwad is the second highest scorer for the Super Kings this season, having hit 533 from his 14 matches. Faf du Plessis has scored 546 runs, while Moeen Ali has also been in great form, striking 304 runs from 13 matches.
Meanwhile, the Kolkata Knight Riders managed to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2018. They have once been crowned IPL champions, with that success coming back in 2012. However, since then, they haven’t been able to reach the final stages of the competition. They ended the regular season in fourth, and have needed to overcome two qualifying matches to reach this stage. They first saw off the Royal Challengers Bangalore, winning by four wickets.
Shubman Gill scored 29 in that win. Meanwhile, they then defeated the Delhi Capitals by three wickets, to reach the final. Venkatesh Iyer was crowned player of the match in that qualifier, as he scored 55 runs from 41 balls. Gill was the next highest scorer, as he hit 46 from the same number of balls. However, Rahul Tripathi has been the highest run scorer throughout the competition, hitting 377 runs from 14 matches.
Recent Meetings
This will be the 28th meeting between the two IPL franchises, with the Super Kings holding a very healthy advantage. Chennai have won on 17 previous occasions, while the Knight Riders have won on nine occasions. Both fixtures between the sides this season have been won by the Super Kings, while the Knight Riders only win in the last seven meetings came in Abu Dhabi in 2020.
Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders Prediction
The BetXchange betting markets couldn’t be more tighter for the IPL final, as both the Super Kings and Knight Riders are priced up at 9/10. However, we find it hard to see past the Super Kings, given that they have the better quality with the bat and also have quality with the ball. We expect the Super Kings to win the IPL title for a fourth time.
Pick: Chennai Super Kings at 9/10 with BetXchange.
Top Home Batsman: Moeen Ali at 9/2 with BetXchange.
Top Home Bowler: Imran Tahir at 33/10 with BetXchange.
