The stakes for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will be quite different when they play one other at Eden Gardens on Tuesday, but Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be the center of attention.

Even though CSK is eliminated from playoff contention, this may be Dhoni’s last visit at the location where his cricket career took a major turn. As Eden Gardens is covered in yellow, maybe for the last time, tensions are certain to run high.

This match is a must-win for KKR. They need to win all of their remaining games, particularly difficult away games against SRH and RCB, to reach 17 points and maintain their prospects of making the playoffs with just 11 points from as many games.

Andre Russell’s brilliant comeback to form has been a major factor in their exciting one-run victory against the Rajasthan Royals in the previous game. KKR will hope Venkatesh Iyer can step up on a surface that is anticipated to favor spinners, as he is under scrutiny after a high auction price.

Both spin and pace-on-older-ball tactics have been complimented by the Eden Gardens field, which has been drier this season. As CSK plays for pride and aims to undermine KKR’s playoff ambitions, expect to see important contributions from Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin.

Even if he isn’t as strong as he once was, Dhoni, who took responsibility for CSK’s close two-run loss to RCB in the most recent game, still inspires supporters. The 43-year-old may be playing his farewell game at Eden, where he scored two of his six Test hundreds and his first-ever first-class century.

Therefore, the match is more than simply a dead rubber or a playoff push; it’s a potential farewell to a great, a crucial match for the host team, and an occasion that might go down in Eden Gardens legends.

Teams:

Ayush Mhatre, Dewald Brevis, Shivam Dube, Noor Ahmad, Khaleel Ahmed, Matheesha Pathirana, Anshul Kamboj, R Ashwin, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Jamie Overton, Vijay Shankar, Rahul Tripathi, Shreyas Gopal, Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Mukesh Choudhary, Nathan Ellis, C Andre Siddarth, Urvil Patel, and Shaik Rasheed are the Chennai Super Kings.

Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Luvnith Sisodia, Venkatesh Iyer, Anukul Roy, Moeen Ali, Ramandeep Singh, Andre Russell, Anrich Nortje, Vaibhav Arora, Mayank Markande, Spencer Johnson, Harshit Rana, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy, and Chetan Sakariya are from the Kolkata Knight Riders.