Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Gujarat Titans (GT) faced off in the opening match of the IPL 2023 league stages on March 31 and the two sides are back facing off against each other in the first match of the Playoff stages as well. Four-time winners CSK, led by MS Dhoni, are up against defending champions GT in Qualifier 1 with the winner progressing to the IPL 2023 Final.
The question on everyone’s mind will be what will be the likely ‘playing XI’ for the top two teams on the season in this all-important clash. Dhoni-led CSK will miss the services of Ben Stokes but they appear to have their foreign players options sorted. Stokes was injured for majority of IPL 2023 and only played a handful of matches this season for CSK.
Once the Sri Lankan duo of Maheesh Theekshana and Matheesha Pathirana joined CSK this year, Dhoni has retained the same ‘playing 12’ in most of the matches – 9 out of 14 times. CSK are not going to make too many changes to this with Moeen Ali, Ravindra Jadeja and Theekshana expected to the three spinners for the side.
Ball Tracking with Mo & Co! _#IPL2023 #WhistlePodu #Yellove __ pic.twitter.com/ouvVlW2w82
— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) May 22, 2023
GT, on the other hand, have been hampered by their skipper Hardik Pandya not bowling in the last three matches. Pandya was highly effective with his bowling last season, especially in the IPL 2022 final against the Rajasthan Royals.
To fill Hardik’s void, GT are expected to pick Sri Lankan all-rounder Dasun Shanaka over Alzarri Joseph to not only give the side depth in batting but also provide bowling options. Rahul Tewatia could also chip in to give more spin bowling options to Hardik.
The rest of the batting line-up is expected to remain the same for GT as the one that defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore in their last league match. Opener Shubman Gill has been in sensational form with back-to-back hundreds in the league while all-rounder Vijay Shankar is also enjoying a stellar season.
Chennai Super Kings vs Gujarat Titans IPL 2023 Qualifier Predicted Playing 11
Chennai Super Kings: Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ajinkya Rahane, Shivam Dube, Moeen Ali, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Deepak Chahar, Maheesh Theekshana, Tushar Desphande, Matheesha Pathirana
Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Hardik Pandya (c), Vijay Shankar, David Miller, Dasun Shanaka, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Shami, Noor Ahmad, Mohit Sharma
