Updates:
The toss at the iconic Eden Gardens fell in favour of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Ajinkya Rahane, who opted to bat first against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Rahane announced one change to the XI, bringing in Manish Pandey for Venkatesh Iyer, who has some stitches in his hand. Meanwhile, the Super Kings named a couple of them, bringing in Devon Conway and Urvil Patel for Shaikh Rasheed and Sam Curran.
KKR playing XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Manish Pandey, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Moeen Ali, Ramandeep Singh, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy.
CSK playing XI: Ayush Mhatre, Urvil Patel, Devon Conway, Ravindra Jadeja, Dewald Brevis, Ravichandran Ashwin, MS Dhoni(w/c), Anshul Kamboj, Noor Ahmad, Khaleel Ahmed, Matheesha Pathirana.
Preview:
Although Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have nothing to lose, Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) playoff hopes are at stake as they host the five-time champions at the Eden Gardens on May 7, 2025, Wednesday. The Knight Riders are narrowly alive in the playoff race but need to win every match and also with a good margin to boost their net run-rate.
The Knight Riders prevailed in a thrilling contest by 1 run at home against the Rajasthan Royals. Andre Russell's return to form, with the business end of the competition approaching is arguably the biggest positive that the defending champions could draw from the nerve-wracking victory. However, their middle-order will still need to brush up if they are to go deep in the tournament.
Meanwhile, the Super Kings narrowly lost yet another game after coming at the doorstep of defeating the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. However, Ayush Mhatre looms as a brightest prospect for them ahead of the 2026 edition and is certain to be retained for next year, keeping in mind his 94 against RCB. However, it could also be the final time MS Dhoni plays at the Eden Gardens.
KKR vs CSK IPL 2025 squads:
CSK squad: MS Dhoni(C), Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Matheesha Pathirana, Noor Ahmad, Ravichandran Ashwin, Devon Conway, Syed Khaleel Ahmed, Rachin Ravindra, Rahul Tripathi, Vijay Shankar, Sam Curran, Shaik Rashid, Anshul Kamboj, Mukesh Choudhary, Deepak Hooda, Gurjanpreet Singh, Nathan Ellis, Jamie Overton, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Ramakrishnan Ghosh, Shreyas Gopal, Urvil Patel, Andre Siddarth.
KKR squad: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Rinku Singh, Quinton de Kock, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Venkatesh Iyer, Ramandeep Singh, Andre Russell, Anrich Nortje, Harshit Rana, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy, Vaibhav Arora, Mayank Markande, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Spencer Johnson, Luvnith Sisodia, Anukul Roy, Moeen Ali, Chetan Sakariya.
