Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans will lock horns for the sixth time in the Indian Premier League (IPL) history today. The IPL 2022 champions lead the head to head record 3-2 at the moment but one of CSK's two wins came in the final last year and it would be hurting the the Titans even now. Both teams have won their previous match starting their campaign with a brilliant win but will be looking for consistency.
There will be quite a few one on one battles during the match but the one that might decide the match could be between CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad and Rashid Khan. The former enjoys a brilliant record against the leg-spinner but Rashid is a champion bowler and can turn the tables on his own. Ruturaj has smashed Rashid for 95 runs off just 60 balls at a strike-rate of 158.33 at an average of 47.5 in seven innings.
Moreover, he enjoys a brilliant record against GT in IPL as well having amassed 304 runs in five innings at an average of 60.5 with four fifties to his name. As for Rashid, he has a decent record against CSK picking up 14 wickets in 15 matches at an average of 31.57.
Umesh vs Dhoni in the offing?
MS Dhoni is likely to bat lower down the order but if he gets a chance, the former CSK skipper will be itching to face Umesh Yadav at the death. The latter bowled a terrific last over against Mumbai Indians but his record against Dhoni is dubious in IPL. The 42-year-old has scored 68 runs off just 38 balls facing Umesh at a strike-rate of 180 and has been dismissed only once. A lot will also depend on this battle if GT pick wickets at regular intervals.
Squads
Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Rachin Ravindra, Ajinkya Rahane, Daryl Mitchell, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Sameer Rizvi, MS Dhoni(w), Deepak Chahar, Maheesh Theekshana, Mustafizur Rahman, Tushar Deshpande, Shardul Thakur, Shaik Rasheed, Moeen Ali, Nishant Sindhu, Mitchell Santner, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Prashant Solanki, Mukesh Choudhary, Simarjeet Singh, RS Hangargekar, Aravelly Avanish
Gujarat Titans: Wriddhiman Saha(w), Shubman Gill(c), Sai Sudharsan, Azmatullah Omarzai, David Miller, Vijay Shankar, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Umesh Yadav, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Spencer Johnson, Mohit Sharma, Sharath BR, Abhinav Manohar, Noor Ahmad, Manav Suthar, Matthew Wade, Kane Williamson, Shahrukh Khan, Joshua Little, Darshan Nalkande, Kartik Tyagi, Sushant Mishra, Sandeep Warrier, Jayant Yadav
