The IPL 2023 is here finally. The 16th edition of the IPL will kick-start with the blockbuster clash between MS Dhoni‘s Chennai Super Kings (CSK) taking on Hardik Pandya’s Gujarat Titans (GT) at the latter’s home ground – Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.
It is in Ahmedabad that the Titans defeated the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL 2022 final, winning the IPL trophy in their debut season itself after the franchise had made a big punt of naming Hardik Pandya as the captain and Ashish Nehra as the head coach.
On the other side is the very well-experienced captain-coach pair of MS Dhoni and Stephen Fleming, who’d be aiming for a turnaround one more time in their IPL careers after finishing 9th in the IPL 2022 – a turnaround as they did in 2021 by winning the trophy after finishing second-last in 2020.
After the retirement of Dwayne Bravo and Robin Uthappa, CSK purchased Ben Stokes and Ajinkya Rahane in the auction. GT have further strengthened their squad, adding Kane Williamson and Odean Smith, though they let go off Lockie Ferguson to KKR as a trade.
Player availability for GT vs CSK Match 1 of IPL 2023:
Both the teams will be missing a few key players – Maheesh Theekshana, Matheesha Pathirana, Sisanda Magala of CSK and David Miller, Josh Little of GT will miss the first match due to national duties.
CSK are also without pacer Mukesh Choudhary, who is down because of an injury and is likely to miss the entire season.
However, both have enough depth in their overseas contingent to make up for their absence.
IPL 2023 Match 1 GT vs CSK Predicted XI:
CSK predicted XI:
Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, MS Dhoni (c,wk), Dwaine Pretorius, Deepak Chahar, Simarjeet Singh
GT predicted XI:
Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha(wk), Kane Williamson, Hardik Pandya, Matthew Wade, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Alzarri Joseph, Shivam Mavi, Mohammed Shami
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) squad for IPL 2023:
MS Dhoni(c), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Moeen Ali, Subhranshu Senapati, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Dwaine Pretorius, Mitchell Santner, Maheesh Theekshana, Prashant Solanki, Deepak Chahar, Mukesh Choudhary, Simarjeet Singh, Tushar Deshpande, Matheesha Pathirana, Ben Stokes, Sisanda Magala, Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rasheed, Nishant Sindhu, Ajay Mandal, Bhagath Varma
Gujarat Titans (GT) squad for IPL 2023:
Hardik Pandya(c), Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Wriddhiman Saha, Matthew Wade, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Abhinav Manohar, Vijay Shankar, Rashid Khan, Sai Kishore, Noor Ahmad, Jayant Yadav, Alzarri Joseph, Mohammed Shami, Yash Dayal, Darshan Nalkande, Pradeep Sangwan, Shivam Mavi, Joshua Little, Kane Williamson, KS Bharat, Odean Smith, Mohit Sharma, Urvil Patel.
