Chennai Super Kings vs Knight Riders Betting Tips 26/03/2022

As is the tradition, the first match of the new IPL sees last year’s finalists take on each other. The tournament this year begins with champions Chennai Super Kings facing Kolkata Knight Riders at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. The match is to begin at 7:30pm IST on March 26 (Saturday).

Teams Status

Chennai Super Kings

Chennai Super Kings have been jolted just days before their campaign begins as their captain, the only one they have ever known, decided to relinquish the role.

With MS Dhoni no more the captain, it is time for Suresh Raina to take over the leadership role, for which he is amply capable.

Chennai will be without their English allrounder Moeen Ali for the tournament opener as he got his visa late. His unavailability means that New Zealand’s Devon Conway could fill in for him. While the Kiwi would cover the Englishman’s batting, his valuable offspin could be a big miss.

Kolkata Knight Riders

Kolkata Knight Riders will be without two of their first-choice players for their first five games, including this one.

Aaron Finch and Pat Cummins are both in Pakistan with the Australian squad and that leaves a huge void in KKR’s batting and bowling units both. Of course, this problem would not have been there in first place if Alex Hales had not withdrawn citing bubble fatigue, forcing KKR to pick Finch as his replacement.

Finch’s opening spot is likely to go to Ajinkya Rahane, who will partner the tall and powerful Venkatesh Iyer up top.

KKR will have a new captain calling the shots this season in the form of Shreyas Iyer.

What Do the Sportsbooks Say?

Brand	Chennai Super Kings	Kolkata Knight Riders
	1.91	1.83
	1.99	1.83
	1.88	1.88

Chennai, for some reason, have fallen a bit out of favour with the oddsmakers despite being the defending champions. Most of the books have installed Kolkata as the favourites in this fixture. Parimatch has Chennai priced at 1.91 and Kolkata at 1.83. Sportsbet has Chennai available for 1.99 and Kolkata for 1.83. Paripesa, however, has both Chennai and Kolkata priced at pick’em odds of 1.88.

Tipster’s Angle

Tip: Chennai to win @ 1.99

We’ll be honest. We do not understand why Chennai are the underdogs here. Sure, some of their key players’ advancing years has been factored in but they still have youth to balance it out. This underestimation of Chennai, in fact, opens up the door for us to back them. We’re siding with Chennai. The odds have been sourced from Sportsbet.

Tip: Venkatesh Iyer to score more than 23.5 runs @ 1.87

This 6’4 behemoth known as Venkatesh Iyer is a special talent – especially in this format. He showed his game last season and took the league by storm and we think he would continue to do the same this year as well. The 23.5-run is very gettable for a man of his talent. The odds have been sourced from Parimatch.

Conclusion

Chennai and Kolkata have faced each other 26 times, with Chennai winning 17 and Kolkata just 8. It’s clear that which side holds the edge in this fixture. Based on history alone backing Chennai makes sense.

Zohaib Ahmed

19:01, 25 Mar 2022

Senior Author

Zohaib Ahmed

Senior Author

19:01, 25 Mar 2022

Zohaib Ahmed is a sports journalist whose profession is to report and edit but whose passion is to predict and bet. He’s been in the industry for more than a decade and has worked/written for various bookmakers/tipsters. His expertise is in cricket, football, MMA, boxing and basketball.