Mahendra Singh Dhoni is known to be a shrewd strategist but when his team Chennai Super Kings (CSK) take on Gujarat Titans (GT) in the first Qualifier of the Indian Premier League (IPL) here on Tuesday, they will need to replace the in-form Shubman Gill. have to make extra efforts to prevent
Gill had overturned Virat Kohli’s century attempt by scoring an unbeaten century in the last match, which resulted in Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) team being 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 have played seven matches here, the nature of the pitch has changed in each match and hence it is difficult to predict how it will behave in the upcoming match. This match has also become interesting because the Gujarat franchise is also moving almost on the same footsteps as Chennai. Its strong management and administration never interfere in cricket related issues and most of the decisions are taken by Ashish Nehra, Gary Kirsten and Vikram Solanki.
In the form of Hardik Pandya, Gujarat Titans have such a captain who is being considered as a skilled strategist like Dhoni. Like Chennai, the Gujarat team is also not interested in making too many changes in the playing XI. So this match will be between teams with similar strategy which makes 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 death overs will also have a significant impact on the result. 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.
A good start from Devon Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad will be crucial for Chennai. Ajinkya Rahane’s performance at Chepauk also holds importance while Shivam Dube will look to add to his 33 sixes for 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 is made flat for the match, then the role of spinners will become important. If Chennai have quality spinners in Ravindra Jadeja, Moeen Ali and Tikshna, Titans have Rashid and Noor Ahmed. Both the Afghanistan spinners have done well this season so far.
Teams are as follows:
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (Captain & Wicket-keeper), Akash Singh, Moeen Ali, Bhagat Verma, Deepak Chahar, Devon Conway, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dubey, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rajvardhan Hangergekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Sisanda Magala, Ajay Mondal, 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. The match will start at 7.30 pm.
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