MATCH PREVIEW
Follow UsThe seventh match of the season, Thala for a reason.
Jokes aside, a riveting rivalry will be renewed on Tuesday, March 26 (Tuesday), when Shubham Gill’s Gujarat Titans travel south to face Ruturaj Gaikwad’s Chennai Super Kings. The Indian Premier League (IPL) has never been the same since these two sides last met in a thrilling finale last year in Ahmedabad.
There has been a change of guard in both setups, but the results haven’t changed much. Chennai came on top of Bengaluru in their first clash at home, and Gujarat toppled a Hardik Pandya-led Mumbai side in a thriller.
So, who will come out on top of this encounter?
CSK vs GT Head-to-Head
Overall - Games 5 | CSK 2 | GT 3
At Chepauk - Games 1 | CSK 1 | GT 0
Venue Details
It will be the season's second match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, with the first clash being the season opener between CSK and RCB. That clash saw CSK chase down 174 with relative ease, with pace doing the trick for both teams.
There isn’t much to separate teams batting first and chasing at the venue, with just a difference of 0.4 in batting average. Unlike the prejudice, pacers have picked up 60.5% of the wickets (72) since last year at the venue. However, that isn’t to say that the spinners won’t affect the game, with an economy rate of 7.7.
The toss isn’t a huge factor, with only 40% of the matches won by teams winning the toss. Five matches have been won by teams batting first and five by teams chasing. So, it is a perfect split.
Weather Forecast
“Severe heat is expected in this area,” Google couldn’t have been more accurate about Chennai’s weather. Expect a humidity of 72%, with an average temperature of 31 degrees celsius throughout the day. In short, hot.
Things to watch out for
Can Gaikwad find form against GT?
73, 53, 92, 60 and 26, Ruturaj Gaikwad’s numbers against Gujarat Titans are exemplary. The right-handed opener has batted like a possessed man against the franchise, and even the 26 he scored in the final was with a strike rate of 163. While he started his captaincy stint in the IPL with a bang, his performance wasn’t quite silky.
What works in his favour is that Gaikwad has scored 283 runs at the venue, averaging a high 31.4 and a strike rate of 136. The biggest thing that Gaikwad would have to brave at the venue is Gujarat’s spin unit.
Sure, his numbers are great against the franchise but he has been dismissed 11 times by leg-spinners in 29 innings. Further, he only averages 12.2 against the tweakers in Chennai, dismissed five times last year. So, he must find fixes for those problems.
Chennai and the problem of many choices
Chennai are spoilt for choices. While other franchises struggle to pick their best combination, the five-time IPL winners won their first clash of the season with relative ease, without their best pacer, Matheesha Pathirana. That in itself shows how strong their Auction game was.
Now Pathirana is back. Will they be brave enough to immediately put the Sri Lankan pacer into the mix after what Mustafizur Rahman did in his debut stint for CSK? At some point, Chennai will face the tough task of choosing between the two.
And then there is Shardul Thakur, who is also waiting in the wings. Tushar Deshpande did not inspire too much confidence, conceding 47 runs in his four overs. That’s where Gaikwad and the management could be looking towards Shardul, who is also an upgrade over Tushar with the bat.
Home away from home for Gujarat Titans
Nothing could define this better, with the Tamil Nadu quartet of Vijay Shankar, Shahrukh Khan, Sai Sudharsan and Sai Kishore returning to familiar territory. They know these conditions far better than anyone else. Gujarat will be trusting on a lot of their intel heading into this all-important clash.
Sudharsan and Kishore were impressive in GT’s season opener, with 45 and 1/24, respectively. Their games are adept at tackling the sticky conditions that Chepauk normally offers. If you throw someone like Shahrukh into the mix, Gujarat will have an additional off-spinner and someone who can tonk the ball against spinners.
All of this only makes things more and more in favour of the Titans, who will be looking to continue their momentum.
Squads
CSK - MS Dhoni (wk), Aravelly Avanish (wk), Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rasheed, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajay Mandal, Daryl Mitchell, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Nishant Sindhu, Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Mukesh Choudhary, Mustafizur Rahman, Matheesha Pathirana, Simarjeet Singh, Prashant Solanki, Shardul Thakur, Maheesh Theekshana, Sameer Rizvi
GT - Shubman Gill (c), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Matthew Wade* (wk), BR Sharath (wk), Sai Sudharsan, David Miller*, M Shahrukh Khan, Kane Williamson*, Azmatullah Omarzai*, Rashid Khan*, Manav Suthar, Abhinav Manohar, Vijay Shankar, Rahul Tewatia, Spencer Johnson*, Josh Little*, Noor Ahmad*, Mohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Kartik Tyagi, Darshan Nalkande, R Sai Kishore, Jayant Yadav, Sushant Mishra, Sandeep Warrier
Probable XIs
CSK - Rachin Ravindra*, Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Shivam Dube (IP), Daryl Mitchell*, Sameer Rizvi, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (wk), Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Maheesh Theekshana*, Mustafizur Rahman (IP)*
GT - Shubman Gill (c), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Sai Sudharsan (IP), Vijay Shankar/Shahrukh Khan, David Miller*, Azmatullah Omarzai*, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan*, Sai Kishore, Noor Ahmad*, Mohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav (IP)
Telecast and Streaming Details
The match will be live on Star Sports Network and live-streamed on Jio Cinema. The game will start at 7:30 PM, with the toss happening at 7 PM.
Downloaded Our Updated Fantasy App Yet? Don't delay, Download Now.
