Four-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will take on the defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT) in the first qualifier of IPL 2023 at the MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai on Tuesday. CSK finished second on the points table having won eight and lost five of their fourteen league games while their second fixture against LSG was abandoned due to rain. CSK have now reached the playoffs in 12 of their 14 seasons so far and are one of the most successful teams in playoff games having won more than 60% of their games in the knockouts so far. They will once again be confident to pick up the win in front of their home crowd.
In the league stage, the Dhoni-led side beat MI, and DC twice, and RCB, KKR, LSG and SRH once. They lost to KKR, PBKS and GT once and were second-best against RR in both their games. In their final game of the league stage, CSK beat DC comfortably by 77 runs in Delhi as the CSK openers Ruturaj Gaikwad (79 off 50) and Devon Conway (87 off 52) set the stage on fire to lay the platform with a 141-run stand. Shivam Dube(22 off 9) and Ravindra Jadeja(20* off 7) then provided the final acceleration with impactful cameos as CSK posted a mammoth 223/3. Deepak Chahar then shone with the ball with an excellent spell of 3/22 as a combined bowling effort saw CSK restrict DC to 146/9.
Ruturaj Gaikwad has scored 504 runs so far this season. Devon Conway is the top-scorer for the team with 585 runs in thirteen innings and has already scored six half-centuries this season. Shivam Dube and Ajinkya Rahane have chipped in with 385 and 282 runs respectively. Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni have also chipped in with important runs down the order. Ambati Rayudu though has been in poor form in what increasingly looks like his final season.
The Sri Lankan duo of Maheesh Theekshana and Matheesha Pathirana have scalped 24 wickets between them so far and have been instrumental to CSK’s success this season. Tushar Deshpande is currently the highest wicket-taker for the team with 20 scalps but has conceded almost ten runs an over. Ravindra Jadeja has picked up 17 wickets and Moeen Ali has also picked up 9 wickets so far. Akash Singh, Hangargekar and Mitchel Santner have also chipped in with 11 wickets between them so far. Chahar has also chipped in with 10 wickets in eight games since returning from injury.
CSK will be without Ben Stokes for the playoffs as the English all-rounder has returned home to focus on the upcoming Ashes series. CSK are expected to be unchanged for the first qualifier. Subhranshu Senapati, Shaik Rasheed, Ambati Rayudu, Simarjeet Singh and Akash Singh could be the options for Impact Player.
CSK’s predicted XI vs GT:
Openers: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway.
Top and Middle Order: Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni (c) (wk).
All-rounders: Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Moeen Ali.
Bowlers: Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana, Matheesha Pathirana, Deepak Chahar.
Impact Player: Subhranshu Senapati, Shaik Rasheed, Ambati Rayudu, Simarjeet Singh and Akash Singh could be the options for Impact Player.
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