There will be a tough qualifier match between MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya, who has the upper hand four-time champion or defending champion

The journey of the Indian Premier League 2023 has now reached its final stage. The first match of the playoffs in the IPL will be a qualifier between four-time champions Chennai Super Kings and defending champions Gujarat Giants. Both the teams are in the top two, after which the first qualifier match is to be played between the two teams.

The winning team in this match will get direct ticket to finale. On the other hand, the team that loses the qualifier will get a chance to play the second qualifier, in which it will face the winning team in the eliminator. At the same time, it has to be seen which of the two teams Gujarat Giants and Chennai Super Kings becomes the winner in the first qualifier.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is known to be a shrewd strategist but when his team Chennai Super Kings take on Gujarat Titans in the first Qualifier of IPL here on Tuesday. Chennai will have to push harder to face Gujarat Titans’ brilliant batsman and in-form Shubman Gill. Shubman Gill, who played an unbeaten century against Royal Challengers Bangalore, overturned Virat Kohli’s century effort. Due to this innings of Shubman, the team of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) got out of IPL.

In such a situation, there is no doubt that the eyes of all the players of Chennai Super Kings will be on Shubman Gill, who is running in the best form. At the same time, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, one of the best captains of India, will also prepare a strategy especially for Shubman Gill so that Chennai’s hold on the match can be strengthened. On the other hand, Gujarat Titans have not played a single match at Chepauk this season, while Chennai Super Kings have played a total of seven matches at this ground this season. However, the nature of the pitch at the Chepauk Stadium has changed with each match and hence it is difficult to predict how it will behave in the upcoming match.

This match has also become interesting because the Gujarat franchise is also moving almost on the same footsteps as Chennai. Its strong management and administration never interfere in cricket related issues and most of the decisions are taken by Ashish Nehra, Gary Kirsten and Vikram Solanki. In the form of Hardik Pandya, Gujarat Titans have such a captain who is being considered as a skilled strategist like Dhoni. Like Chennai, the Gujarat team is also not interested in making too many changes in the playing XI. So this match will be between teams with similar strategy which makes it interesting.

pitch will be a challenge
The challenge for Gujarat will be to deal with the slow nature of the Chepauk pitch. Apart from this, the bowling of Deepak Chahar in the power play and the performance of Mathisa Pathirana in the death overs will also have a significant impact on the result. In such a scenario, Pandya and Nehra will take advice from Sri Lankan skipper Dasun Shanaka as he would know how to deal with Pathirana and spinner Mahesh Tikshna. Shanaka can be used as an all-rounder but considering the toss, left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore can also be tried who is well-acquainted with the conditions here. Ireland’s Joshua Little can also be included in the playing XI. A good start from Devon Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad will be crucial for Chennai.

Ajinkya Rahane’s performance at Chepauk also holds importance while Shivam Dube will look to add to his 33 sixes for the season. However, it will not be easy for the Chennai batsmen to deal with the experienced Mohammed Shami and Rashid Khan. If the pitch is made flat for the match, then the role of spinners will become important. If Chennai have quality spinners in Ravindra Jadeja, Moeen Ali and Tikshna, Titans have Rashid and Noor Ahmed. Both the Afghanistan spinners have done well this season so far.

Teams are as follows:
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (Captain & Wicket-keeper), Akash Singh, Moeen Ali, Bhagat Verma, Deepak Chahar, Devon Conway, Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dubey, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rajvardhan Hangergekar, Ravindra Jadeja, Sisanda Magala, Ajay Mandal, Mathisha Pathirana, Dwayne Pretorius, Ajinkya Rahane, Shaik Rashid, Ambati Rayudu, Mitchell Santner, Subhranshu Senapati, Simarjit Singh, Nishant Sindhu, Prashant Solanki, Mahesh Tikshna.

Gujarat Titans: Hardik Pandya (Captain), Shubman Gill, David Miller, Abhinav Manohar, Sai Sudarshan, Wriddhiman Saha, Matthew Wade, Rashid Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Mohammed Shami, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Pradeep Sangwan, Darshan Nalkande, Jayant Yadav , R. Sai Kishore, Noor Ahmed, Dasun Shanaka, Odion Smith, KS Bharath, Shivam Mavi, Urvil Patel, Joshua Little and Mohit Sharma. The match will start at 7.30 pm.