Gujarat Titans will be taking on Chennai Super Kings in the Qualifier 1 match of the IPL 2023 on Tuesday, at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. The defending champions defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by six wickets in their last league stage match and finished as the table-toppers with 20 points. On the other hand, the MS Dhoni-led side registered a 77-run victory over Delhi Capitals and finished at the second spot on the points table. It will be an interesting encounter as both the teams will be putting their best foot forward to seal the finale berth.
This season, Gujarat Titans haven't played at the Chepauk, which hasn't behaved in a singular manner during CSK's seven home games and that prompted head coach Stephen Fleming to raise apprehensions about what to expect.
What makes this battle even more interesting is the fact that GT is a team that seems closest to being a proto-type of what CSK had been all these years in IPL.
There is a chance that Irishman Joshua Little will be back in playing XI in place of Dasun Shanaka and Sai Kishore comes in place of Yash Dayal, who is yet to get back his confidence after the five sixes assault on him by his statemate Rinku Singh.
For CSK, a good start by the crack pair of Devon Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad will be important. But at the Chepauk, even Ajinkya Rahane could become a factor while Shivam Dube would love to add to his 33 sixes for the season.
CSK's Predicted XI vs GT: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu, Shivam Dube, Moeen Ali, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni(c/wk), Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana (Impact sub: Matheesha Pathirana)
GT's Predicted XI vs CSK: Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya (c), Sai Sudharsan/Vijay Shankar, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Mohammed Shami, Mohit Sharma, Yash Dayal (Impact Sub: Joshua Little)
(With PTI Inputs)