Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will take on Gujarat Titans (GT) in the first game of the IPL 2023 on Friday (March 31) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. CSK finished in the second last place in the points table last season, and this was their worst performance in the tournament so far.
They released a total of eight players before going into the auction this year, including the likes of Adam Milne, Dwayne Bravo, Chris Jordan, and Robin Uthappa. Uthappa and Bravo have retired from IPL. Bravo has been appointed as the bowling coach of CSK.
They bought a total of eight players in the auction, including English Test skipper Ben Stokes. This will be Stokes’ third IPL team after Rising Pune Supergiant and Rajasthan Royals. He will likely play a key role for the team with both bat and ball this season.
The Titans, under the leadership of Hardik Pandya, made their debut last season and won the tournament. They defeated Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets after chasing the target of 131 runs in 18.1 overs at the Narendra Modi Stadium only.
They released a total of six players before the auction this year. Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Lockie Ferguson were transferred to Kolkata Knight Riders. They made some smart moves at the auction table and were the only team with a 100% success rate. The Ahmedabad-based franchise made bids for seven players and managed to pick each one of them.
MATCH INFORMATION
- Gujarat Titans vs Chennai Super Kings, Match 1
- Indian Premier League, 31 Mar 2023, Fri, 7:30 PM IST ,Ahmedabad
PROBABLE PLAYING XI
Gujarat Titans
MS Wade, A Manohar, Shubman Gill, Kane Williamson, HH Pandya(C), R Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Shivam Mavi, Alzarri Joseph, M Shami, Yash Dayal
Bench : KS Bharat, Wriddhiman Saha, DA Miller, Sai Sudharsan, Urvil Patel, Vijay Shankar, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Odean Smith, J Yadav, J Little, DG Nalkande, Noor Ahmad, PJ Sangwan, MM Sharma
Chennai Super Kings
MS Dhoni(C), Devon Conway, AT Rayudu, RD Gaikwad, MM Ali, Ben Stokes, S Dubey, RA Jadeja, Dwaine Pretorius, DL Chahar, Simarjeet Singh
Bench : Ajinkya Rahane, SP Senapati, Shaik Rasheed, Nishant Sindhu, Mitchell Santner, Bhagath Varma, TU Deshpande, RS Hangargekar, KA Jamieson, AJ Mandal, Mukesh Choudhary, Matheesha Pathirana, Prashant Solanki, M Theekshana, SSB Magala
INJURY AND AVAILABILITY NEWS
For this game, David Miller and Joshua Little are unavailable for the Gujarat Titans. Chennai Super Kings will miss the services of Sisanda Magala, Matheesha Pathirana, and Maheesh Theekshana for this opening game.
WEATHER REPORT
Broken Clouds
WIN PREDICTION
Chennai Super Kings
PITCH CONDITION
Batting
AVG 1ST INNING SCORE
173
PITCH REPORT
The Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad hosted two games last season. The previous T20I game at this venue was played on February 1 between India and New Zealand. Shubman Gill scored his maiden century in that game, and India scored 234 runs.
The pitch here will likely provide extensive assistance to the batters. The average first innings score in the last five T20 games at this venue has been 173 runs. The team winning the toss will likely elect to bowl.
Dream 11
- Captain: Ben Stokes
- Vice-captain: Hardik Pandya
- Wicketkeeper: MS Dhoni
- Batters: Shubman Gill, Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Ruturaj Gaikwad
- Allrounders: Ben Stokes, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya
- Bowlers: Mohammad Shami, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar