Chennai, March 26 Gujarat Titans skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad won the toss and elected to bowl first against Chennai Super Kings, in a replay of last edition's final, in Match 7 of IPL 2024 at M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Chennai defeated Gujarat Titans in the IPL 2023 final and have won four out of the five matches they have played recently. In IPL 2024, CSK started their defence of the title with a comfortable victory over Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the tournament opener.
Gujarat, who won the title in 2022, have won three out of their last five matches and started their campaign in 2024 with a victory over Mumbai Indians, the other franchise to win five matches in IPL.
Gujarat are unchanged from the Mumbai Indians match while defending champions Chennai Super Kings made a change, bringing Matheesha Pathirana for fellow Sri Lankan Maheesh Theekshana.
Shubhan Gill said they are ready for their second successive match. "That [first] match was physically and mentally exhausting. Quick turnaround, but we are used to it. It was a tremendous feeling to be able to be down in the game and then come back. It showed the character of our team. We are going with the same team," said Gill, who initially fumbled and said they would bat first before correcting himself.
CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad said they were also looking to bowl first.
"We were looking to bowl first. The wicket is similar to what we had in the first game. Batting first here is not much different. I would say, a slightly rusty start but we came back well. And once we came back, we did not allow them to be back. Everyone showed good intent. In place of Theeskahana, we have our Malinga, Pathirana," said Gaikwad.
Playing XIs:
Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Rachin Ravindra, Ajinkya Rahane, Daryl Mitchell, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Sameer Rizvi, M.S. Dhoni (wk), Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Mustafizur Rahman
Subs: Matheesha Pathirana, Shardul Thakur, Shaik Rasheed, Nishant Sindhu, Mitchell Santner
Gujarat Titans: Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Shubman Gill (c), Azmatullah Omarzai, David Miller, Vijay Shankar, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, R. Sai Kishore, Umesh Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Spencer Johnson.
Subs: Sai Sudharsan, BR Sharath, Abhinav Manohar, Manav Suthar, Noor Ahmad.
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