IPL 2022 Kicks-Off With Jadeja's CSK Taking on Shreyas' KKR on Saturday

Match starts at 7:30pm IST.

MS Dhoni has handed the CSK captaincy to Ravindra Jadeja.

(Photo: BCCI)

In a repeat of last year's final, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), with their new captains -- Ravindra Jadeja and Shreyas Iyer, will lock horns in the opening match of IPL 2022 at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday night.

On Thursday, CSK announced that MS Dhoni had decided to hand over the team's captaincy to star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja who has been an integral part of team since 2012. Jadeja is in fact only be the third player to lead the Chennai-based franchise, after Dhoni and Suresh Raina.

Notably, it will be the first time that Dhoni will play as a pure wicket-keeper batter and won't lead the side in an IPL match. The only time that the legendary cricketer has represented Super Kings strictly as a player was in 2012, in a dead-rubber Champions League T20 game against Yorkshire.

As the new skipper, Jadeja's first challenge is to fill the big voids created by the absence of first-choice players Deepak Chahar (injured) and Moeen Ali. Moeen reached India late due to visa issues and will only be available for CSK's second game, against Lucknow Super Giants on March 31, after undergoing quarantine for three days.

In the absence of the English all-rounder, New Zealand batter Devon Conway is set to make his IPL debut. But it will be interesting to see, whether CSK play him as an opener or use him as a floater in the middle-order to counter Knight Riders' mystery spinners

Conway is technically very sound against spin bowling. In all T20 cricket, Conway averages 61.63 and strikes at 134.65 against spin. Against pace, the average drops to 37.40 and strike rate to 126.15.

Rajvardhan Hangargekar is likely to play in the place of Deepak Chahar and the rest of the CSK side is mostly settled.

On the other hand, new KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer too has a few concerns, starting with finding an opening partner for Venkatesh Iyer. KKR bought Alex Hales during the IPL auction but the English cricketer has since pulled out and his replacement Aaron Finch is not available for the early part of the tournament as Australia are currently in the middle of their Pakistan tour.

On the other hand, Kiwi pacer Tim Southee, who got married earlier this week and joined the IPL bubble late, will miss Saturday's game. In his absence, Knight Riders could bring in Sri Lanka's Chamika Karunaratne or pick an extra Indian seamer.

Though KKR reached the final last season, they had a horror start to that season. And, Iyer will love to continue that attack-first approach of KKR.

(With inputs from IANS)