In the inaugural game of the IPL 2023, Tushar Deshpande made history as the tournament’s first impact player.
With much fanfare, the 2023 Indian Premier League kicked off on Friday night in Ahmedabad between the Gujarat Titans and the Chennai Super Kings. The Super Kings were the first team in the tournament to use a “impact player,” when they substituted Tushar Deshpande for Ambati Rayudu. The ‘Impact Player’ rule is a recent addition to the T20 league and allows each team to name five players for consideration as starting lineup replacements.
CSK captain MS Dhoni used the impact player just before the Gujarat Titans‘ innings began. The Titans had earlier won the toss at Narendra Modi Stadium and elected to bowl.
The Super Kings scored a respectable 178 runs with Ruturaj Gaikwad as their top batsman in 20 overs (92 off 50 deliveries). Captain Dhoni made a cameo appearance late in the innings, hitting a six and a four in the final over for 14 runs (unbeaten) off 7 balls.
In the powerplay, the Titans brought in their ace bowler Rashid Khan, who promptly picked up the wicket his team needed when he had the ominously batting Moeen Ali caught behind for just 23 runs off 17 balls.
CSK were reduced to 70/3 after Rashid’s second over, when wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha caught England Test captain Ben Stokes. Gaikwad maintained his resolve at the crease, racking up the boundaries, despite the rapid turnover of wickets. In the eighth over, he invited Alzarri Joseph to join the attack by hitting him for three sixes.
Titans did well to slow the scoring in the middle overs, and they even managed to remove Ambati Rayudu from the game. Gaikwad was caught in the deep in the 17th over, preventing him from reaching a well-deserved century because of the pressure created by Shivam Dube’s inability to find the big hits.
