Chennai Super Kings captain has again showed faith in his bowler by opting to bat first on the fresh Sharjhah Cricket Stadium surface as they take on Steve Smith's Rajasthan Royals in match 4 of Indian Premier League 2020 on Tuesday.
The CSK captain further revealed that Ambati Rayudu is not 100 per cent fit for the game and has been replaced in the line-up by domestic stalwart Ruturaj Gaekwad, who earlier wasn't available for the opening encounter against Mumbai Indians due to COVID-19. No further change was made in the line-up.
"We will bowl first. Dew is one of the factor. What we have seen is consistent amount of dew all over, whenever there is a question mark when it comes to dew you want to chase. I feel this is one venue where the wicket will be entirely different compared to the other two venues. People will prepare differently for the matches over here," Dhoni said after winning the toss.
He further said: "As of now looks good but it will slow down as the match progresses. I don't know how hard the surface is underneath. We have one change - Rayudu is not 100 percent, so Rituraj comes in his place. Adaptability is the key in the shortest format. You need to quickly judge what length to bowl on that particular surface and to that particular batsmen. Those are things we need to do, other than that we won't be the best fielding side, we will be a safe fielding side."
Royals skipper Smith admitted he would have opted to bowl as well if he won the toss but hopes his side will still perform well. He revealed Tom Curran, Jofra Archer, David Miller and him are the overseas players in their line-up.
"Probably would have bowled as well. The dew factor as MS just pointed out will come into the game. Bat first and hopefully we do it well. Took a little bit longer than I would have liked. I had my first hit yesterday and it went well. Myself, Tom Curran, Archer and Miller," Smith said.
"I have been involved with the Royals since 2014, it has been a while with a few years off there. We have got a good group, good bunches of guys, lot of talent and we are excited about this year. I have heard a lot (about the youngsters) in the last few weeks. The boys have been trying exceptionally well here and been doing a great job. So it is time to bring out to the middle and hopefully we can see some really good talent taking off," he added.
Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Robin Uthappa, Sanju Samson(w), Steven Smith(c), David Miller, Riyan Parag, Shreyas Gopal, Tom Curran, Rahul Tewatia, Jofra Archer, Jaydev Unadkat.
Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Murali Vijay, Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Ruturaj Gaikwad, MS Dhoni(w/c), Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Deepak Chahar, Piyush Chawla, Lungi Ngidi.
