Chennai, April 3 (IANS) Lucknow Super Giants captain K.L. Rahul has won the toss and elected to bowl first against Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2023 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Monday. CSK are playing an IPL match at Chepauk, their designated home venue, after 1427 days.
After winning the toss, Rahul said Jaydev Unadkat goes out and Yash Thakur comes into the playing eleven, making it the lone change from their 50-run win over Delhi Capitals at home.
“We want to know what we are chasing. It was a really good performance against DC, all parts of the game we did well. We need to turn up again today and better those performances.”
“Today, we need to assess the conditions well and find the right lengths early. Get the batters out early and then hope there is a bit of dew, dew factor is always there in Chennai.”
Chennai skipper M.S. Dhoni got a rip-roaring reception from the crowd at Chepauk when he stepped out for the toss and said his team is unchanged from their five-wicket loss to Gujarat Titans in the tournament opener at Ahmedabad.
“Does mean a lot to be back here. IPL started in 2008 but we’ve not played a lot of cricket here. Only about 5-6 seasons we’ve been here. This is the first time the full stadium will be operational, a few stands were empty earlier.”
“Really glad that we get to play all our home games here at Chepauk, means a lot. Need to keep assessing our situation and keep revisiting our targets, keep a realistic goal in mind and take it from there,” said Dhoni.
Playing XIs:
Chennai Super Kings: Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (c/wk), Shivam Dube, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar and Rajvardhan Hangargekar
Substitutes: Tushar Deshpande, Dwaine Pretorius, Subhranshu Senapati, Shaik Rasheed and Ajinkya Rahane
Lucknow Super Giants: KL Rahul (c), Kyle Mayers, Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Krishnappa Gowtham, Ravi Bishnoi, Mark Wood, Yash Thakur and Avesh Khan
Substitutes: Jaydev Unadkat, Daniel Sams, Prerak Mankad, Amit Mishra and Ayush Badoni
–IANS
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