Chennai Super Kings will face the Kolkata Knight Riders in the 51st game of the second season of the DLF IPL, in a match that is inconsequential as far as the Kolkata Knight Riders are concerned, but could gain huge importance for Chennai if some of the results go against them.

The Kolkata Knight Riders (6/4 at Ladbrokes to beat Chennai) have almost done nothing right; from losing in a bowl-out to conceding 26 runs in the last over, they have lost left, right and centre. On the other hand, the only positive they can take from the whole scenario is that they have got better as the games have progressed and the results have got closer. This might just be the game in which they reverse their losses, but to do that, they will need to swallow the bitter pill of previous game’s loss quickly.

The Super Kings (8/13 at Boylesports to win game), on the other hand, have had most things going their way after the departure of Andrew Flintoff, but cannot afford to take it easy from here. For one, at the time of writing, there is a mathematical probability of Chennai losing out on the berth, and besides, they wouldn’t want to go into the knock-out without momentum going for them.

The Super Kings will continue to heavily rely on their batting duo of Mathew Hayden (9/4 at Stan James to be top Chennai batsman) and Suresh Raina (4/1 at Ladbrokes to be Chennai’s best), but M.S.Dhoni will be pushing his luck a little too far if expects them to fire every time they bat. Instead, someone like an Albie Morkel (12/1 at Stan James to be highest from Chennai) could be promoted up the order if they did lose some early wickets. Dhoni (5/1 at Stan James to be the highest scorer) has been doing well up the order, but it will augur well to get everyone in good batting nick before the knock-out.

Kolkata will require its top order to dole out a much better performance than the previous game, and this is why I think that Sourav Ganguly (9/2 at Sky Bet to be top Kolkata scorer) may be dropped down the order, or dropped altogether. McCullum (7/2 at Ladbrokes to be top Kolkata scorer) has slowly seemed to have got his form back, but he will need to bat out of his skin to play another inning like what he had against the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

However, David Hussey (4/1 at Stan James to be top Kolkata scorer) will continue to be my favourite to top-score the inning; now, only for him to get a chance to bat up the order.

Tips:
Favourites: Chennai Super Kings (8/13 at Boylesports)
Top Kolkata batsman: David Hussey (4/1 at Stan James)
Top Chennai Super Kings: Albie Morkel (12/1 at Stan James)