Chennai, April 12 (IANS) Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss in his 200th match as Chennai Super Kings captain and decided to bowl first against Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Wednesday.
Dhoni said the reason he decided to field first as he expects the pitch to be slightly on the slower side and the dew will come into play later in the evening.
“It will be slightly on the slower side. There could be dew around. Feels good [to lead for the 200th time]. The crowd was fantastic. The new stadium is like playing in Switzerland. We have seen cricket change. Feels good to have survived for so long and it’s a format we have to keep evolving. Important to get rid of mistakes in the later stages,” Dhoni said at the toss.
CSK have made two changes in their playing XI with Mitchell Santner and Dwaine Pretorius making way for Moeen Ali and Maheesh Theekshana.
Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson said they would have liked to bat first anyway. “Important to keep up the momentum. Always a pleasure to come to Chepauk and play against CSK and Mahi bhai. A few changes with the impact rule — Trent Boult misses out because of a niggle,” he said.
Playing XIs:
Rajasthan Royals: Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, R Ashwin, Jason Holder, Kuldeep Sen, Sandeep Sharma, Yuzvendra Chahal
Substitutes: Riyan Parag, KM Asif, Donovan Ferreira, Adam Zampa, Joe Root
Chennai Super Kings: Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ajinkya Rahane, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Sisanda Magala, Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana, Akash Singh
Substitutes: Ambati Rayudu, Mitchell Santner, Subhranshu Senapati, Shaik Rasheed, Rajvardhan Hangargekar.
–IANS
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