IPL 2023: Hardik Pandya leads Gujarat Titans against MS Dhoni’s CSK

IPL 2023: Reigning Indian Premier League champions and Hardik Pandya-led Gujarat Titans will take on MS Dhoni’s and four-time IPL winners Chennai Super Kings in the opening match of the world’s toughest T20 league. The match will be played on March 31, 2023, at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Both the teams look equally balanced but the Hardik Pandya-led side might have an edge ahead of the first match of the IPL as they had defeated Chennai in both the matches they played in IPL 2022. However, last season MS Dhoni didn’t lead the team in the first phase of the tournament and Ravindra Jadeja was the appointed captain. CSK didn’t perform well under Jadeja’s captaincy and he left the job in the midseason.

MS Dhoni then took the team’s captaincy in the second phase of the tournament but was not able to lead his team to the playoff stage. This season Dhoni will be once again leading the side from Match 1 and it will be great to see how Hardik Pandya leads his team by playing against the captain under whom he made his international debut.

Gujarat Titans vs Chennai Super Kings: Head-to-Head Record
Though till now Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings twice as the last season was Hardik Pandya’s team debut season, it was his team who won both matches against CSK and also might walk as favorites ahead of the first IPL match.

The first time when both the teams took on each other was in the 29th match of the IPL 2022 when CSK batting first scored 169/5 in which Ruturaj Gaikwad top scored 73 whereas Ambati Rayudu and Ravindra Jadeja also contributed with knocks of 46 and 22. Chasing the target Gujarat looked in trouble but at last David Miller led his team over the line and played an unbeaten inning of 94. Rashid Khan also chipped in with his quick innings of 40 runs and guided his team to a three-wicket win.

The second between both the teams was a low-scoring encounter as batting first CSK registered a total of 133/5 in the 62nd match of the India Premier League. Gujarat Titans didn’t face any trouble while chasing the target and won the match by seven wickets.