New Delhi. The teams of Chennai Super Kings and defending champions Gujarat Titans (CSK vs GT), captained by Mahendra Singh Dhoni (MS Dhoni). Will face each other on Tuesday (May 23) in the first qualifier match of IPL 2023. This match will be at the home ground MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. In front of Chennai, it will be a difficult challenge to stop the information opener Shubman Gill of Gujarat Titans. The team that wins this match will get the ticket for the final. While the losing team will get a second chance to make it to the final.
Talking about statistics, both the teams have met 3 times in the IPL so far. In which Gujarat, captained by Hardik Pandya, has won all the three matches. In this IPL, both the teams have clashed twice in the league stage, in which Gujarat has won both the times.
Shubman Gill Turned Water on Kohli’s Century Innings
Shubman Gill had overturned Virat Kohli’s century effort by scoring an unbeaten century in the last match. Due to which the Royal Challengers Bangalore team was out of the IPL. In such a situation, all eyes will be on this young batsman in the match against Chennai and Dhoni. One of the best captains of India, will definitely prepare a special strategy for him. Gujarat Titans have not played a single match at Chepauk this season. Although Chennai has played 7 matches here but the pitch has changed in each match. And hence it is difficult to predict how it will behave in the upcoming match.
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Pandya is Considered as a Skilled Strategist Like Dhoni
In the form of Hardik Pandya, Gujarat Titans have such a captain who considered as a skilled strategist like Dhoni. The Gujarat team is also not interested in making too many changes in the playing XI like Chennai. Therefore, this match will be between teams with a similar strategy, which has made it interesting. The challenge for Gujarat will be to deal with the slow nature of the Chepauk pitch. Apart from this, the bowling of Deepak Chahar in the power play. And the performance of Mathisa Pathirana in the final overs will also have a significant impact on the result.
Conway and Gaikwad’s Debut Will be Important
A good start from Devon Conway and Rituraj Gaikwad will be very important for Chennai. Ajinkya Rahane’s performance in Chepauk is also of great importance while Shivam Dubey would like to add to his 33 sixes in the season. However, it will not be easy for the Chennai batsmen to deal with the experienced Mohammed Shami and Rashid Khan. If the pitch made flat for the match, then the role of spinners will become important. If Chennai has good spinners in the form of Ravindra Jadeja, Moin Ali and Tikshna, then Titans have Rashid and Noor Ahmed. Both the Afghanistan spinners have done well this season so far.
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Teams Selected From:
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (captain & wk), Akash Singh, Moeen Ali, Bhagat Verma, Deepak Chahar, Devon Conway, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dubey, Rituraj Gaikwad, Rajvardhan Hangergekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Sisanda Magala, Ajay Mandal, Mathisha Pathirana, Dwayne Pretorius, Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rashid, Ambati Rayudu, Mitchell Santner, Subhranshu Senapati, Simarjit Singh, Nishant Sindhu, Prashant Solanki, Mahesh Tikshna.
Gujarat Titans: Hardik Pandya (Captain), Shubman Gill, David Miller, Abhinav Manohar, Sai Sudarshan, Wriddhiman Saha, Matthew Wade, Rashid Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Mohammed Shami, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Pradeep Sangwan, Darshan Nalkande , Jayant Yadav, R. Sai Kishore, Noor Ahmed, Dasun Shanaka, Odion Smith, KS Bharath, Shivam Mavi, Urvil Patel, Joshua Little and Mohit Sharma.
In such a situation, Pandya and Nehra will take advice from Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka as he will know how to deal with Pathirana and spinner Mahesh Tikshna. Shanaka can be used as an all-rounder but considering the toss, left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore can also be tried who is well-acquainted with the conditions here. Ireland’s Joshua Little can also be included in the playing XI.
