GT vs CSK, IPL 2023 Highlights: Gujarat start title defence with a win, beat Chennai by 5 wickets

What an innings this has been from the young opener. Half century in just 23 balls. Joseph strays on to the pad for the third ball and plays it over square leg. 

Alzarri Joseph comes in for the ninth over and Gaikwad smacks it over square leg.  

Off the very next ball! Rashid Khan has got Moeen and Stokes, the two English bigwigs in the CSK squad. Stokes pushes at a delivery that skids away outside off, Saha takes a quite brilliant reflex catch. 

Stokes c Saha b Rashid Khan 7 (6), CSK 70/3 in 7.4 overs

Stokes loses his balance but the ball still goes for four. Absolutely smashed Rashid down the ground. 

Shubman Gill has missed a run-out chance. Gaikwad tips the ball to cover and takes off. There was no run there and Stokes sends him back but he was stranded in no-man's land by then. Gill throws at the stumps, Saha was not near the wickets and Gaikwad survives to fight another over.

Gaikwad sends the next ball over mid-on again and that's back to back sixes. Gaikwad has raced to 36 in 15 balls.

Pandya bowling the first over after powerplay, Gaikwad launches it over the infield beautifully over mid-off for six. Some delay after that as the umpires check if the ball hit the spider-cam cables on the way to the boundary. That would result in this excellent shot going for nothing as this delivery will be called a dead ball. 

No reviews needed there, Moeen gets a nick and the experienced Saha makes no mistake with the catch. Moeen and Gaikwad put up 36 runs off 22 balls. Now in comes Ben Stokes.

Moeen Ali c Saha b Rashid Khan 23 (17), CSK 50/2 in 5.5 overs 

Umpire raises his finger after a big appeal for LBW from Rashid and GT. Brett Lee had straightaway from the commentary box that it is pitching outside leg and so the umpire raising his finger surprised a few. Moeen reviews, as it turns out it was just about pitching outside leg and the umpire had to overturn his decision. Moeen responds by smashing the next ball down the ground for four. 

Pandya won't be happy about this one bit. His main bowler has been taken for 17 runs in the fifth over. Now he throws the ball to Rashid Khan. 

Shami goes short for the fifth ball and Moeen is unable to get any timing on his pull. However, the ball goes through point and there is no stopping it. Another big over for CSK. 

Shami sends in a beamer for the third ball of the fifth and that is called a no ball. He pitches the next ball up and Moeen muscles it over long on for a six. CSK going at a good click here. 

Big over that for GT. 15 runs off it. A misfield from the captain allowed the batters to run a single off the third ball. A lot of nerves for Little in his first over and Gaikwad and Moeen made him pay for it. 

Moeen has come in at No.3 and he sends this delivery outside off to the boundary. 15 runs off this over thus far. 

Little drags it down for the first ball, Gaikwad pulls it behind for the first six of the tournament. Little predictably goes full around off next and Gaikwad drives him for four. Pressure straightaway. 

Josh Little is set to become the first player from Ireland to bowl in the IPL. Chris Gayle in the commentary is having a field day with “Little” jokes.  

Oh those stumps have been absolutely shattered. Conway hardly looked comfortable against Shami. That is also 100 IPL wickets for Shami. Slanting from round the wicket, a loose drive from an uncertain Conway and the ball bursts through the gate. 

Devon Conway b Mohammed Shami 1 (6), CSK 41/1 in 2.2 overs

“Oh my word,” says Chris Gayle in the commentary box as that ball races to the boundary.  Back of a length from Pandya and Gaikwad jabs it through the gap in covers. 4, dot, 4 so far. 

Back of a length from Pandya for the first ball of the over, Gaikwad punches it past midwicket. The GT captain starts off by giving away a boundary. 

Good start from Shami. He beat Conway off the last ball of that over. The first run came off a leg bye while the second went to Gaikwad. Hardik Pandya bowls the second over. 

Devon Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad open for CSK. Mohammed Shami opens the bowling for GT. 

The two teams align in the middle adjacent to each other as the Indian national anthem plays. 

Gaikwad's alarming drop in form was one of the big factors in CSK's poor performance last season. He scored just 368 runs in 14 matches at an average of 26.29 and strike rate of 126.46. Wonder how he will fare this season, he opens the batting for CSK with Devon Conway. Rayudu will be No.3 it seems for now while Stokes will be No.4. 

Wriddhiman Saha(w), Shubman Gill, Kane Williamson, Hardik Pandya(c), Vijay Shankar, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Shami, Joshua Little, Yash Dayal, Alzarri Joseph

Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ben Stokes, Ambati Rayudu, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Rajvardhan Hangargekar

“We were also looking to bowl first and I don't think it [the pitch] will change. Last night it rained and I don't know if there will be dew. The preparation has been good and we assembled early [in Chennai]. Overall, it seems as if we've done okay. It [Impact Player rule] is a luxury to have and it becomes slightly easy to use here because in domestic it was at the 14th over. Four foreigners - Moeen, Stokes, Santner and Conway - and the others will fight for that one spot.”

“We'll bowl first. It's always good to play here. New start, new season, quite exciting. Almost everyone in the country has got motivation from him (Dhoni). Been a fan and admirer of him. Want boys to enjoy it. Result will take care of itself. It's different - I've left it in the coach. Ashu pa (Ashish Nehra) works all night on what needs to be done. I don't know (combination for today).”

Ravi Shastri makes the gigantic stadium shake with his “Kemcho Ahmedabadiyo!” Hardik Pandya spins the coin, Dhoni calls heads and Pandya wins the toss! GT will bowl first. 

Well, well, well will the England Test captain steam in with the ball for a couple of overs today? Mike Hussey, the CSK batting coach, has said that Stokes may not bowl for the first few days because of his knee issues. He is wearing a knee strap on his right leg but he was bowling in the warm-up. That is quite something for CSK fans. 

Dhoni was wearing a kneecap while training at the Chepauk earlier this week which is what prompted speculation as to whether he will play today or not. He has been feeling his knees now and then during warm-up today. But he will play today, he is standing in the middle in his gear, waiting for the toss with Hardik Pandya. Javagal Srinath is the match referee and Pandya gives Ravi Shastri, the man who will conduct the toss, a bear hug. Dhoni then gives him a typically polite handshake. Toss is seconds away now. 

Right lets get down the cricket side of things, shall we? Put a good score on the board and it might be good enough, says Simon Doull. No excuses today for the batters. A good pitch to bat on. 

Both players are brought to the stage on very loudly coloured chariots bearing the names of their teams with fireworks going out from the sides and performers dancing in front of them. As typically IPL as it gets. The cheers that the two players brought from the crowd was higher than anything we have heard thus far. Pandya also carries the IPL Trophy to the stage, where he joins the BCCI bigwigs and celebrities who performed today apart from Dhoni.

Tamannah Bhatia and Rashmika Mandhana followed up after Arijit Singh but there is only “CSK! CSK!” chants that can be heard from the crowds. This may be GT's home ground but there is no doubt who are the favourites her. 

There was this little murmur that went around about MS Dhoni possibly not playing this game. His presence in the dugout though, might indicate otherwise. Let us see who walks out wearing the yellow for the toss alongwith Hardik Pandya.

The CSK captain was shown briefly singing along to the songs as Arijit Singh goes around the stadium on a moving stand. Opening ceremonies tend to be quite mechanical and boring but not in this case. Arijit really does seem to have the stadium at the tip of his fingers as he belts one giant hit after another. 

Axar will be deputy to Warner at DC. Axar gained a different level of legitimacy as a batter this year with his performances against Australia's in India's four-match series. “Axar will have great knowledge about all the players in the squad. He'll be in control of relaying information to the bowlers and also help me deal with the language barrier,” Warner said about Axar. 

Mumbai Indians had earlier announcer that they have replaced injured pacer Jasprit Bumrah with Sandeep Warrier for the 2023 Indian Premier League. Bumrah was ruled out of the entire tournament due to a back injury.

Dhoni is the only captain from the set of players who led teams in the first season of the IPL in 2008. Not just that he is the only one to still be leading a side, he is also the only one to be still playing, with the rest having retired many years back. Under him, CSK have reached the top four in 11 of the 14 seasons that he has led them. They have reached the final in nine of those seasons, which means they have failed to reach the title clash just twice after qualifying for the playoffs. He also captained the Rising Pune Supergiant in one of two seasons he was with them but they failed to make it past the group stage under him. The next season, he played under Steve Smith's captaincy and they reached the final.

Mandira Bedi has whipped the capacity crowd up and introduced Arijit Singh. The maestro is now doing his thing in the stage that has been set up in the middle.

Kuldeep Sen, Mohsin Khan, Mukesh Choudhary and Yash Dhayal were four of the most promising pacers that burst out last season. All four are unavailable this year due to injuries. Kuldeep hasn’t played since featuring for India in his only ODI against Bangladesh last December. Sen was only there in Bangladesh because Yash Dayal, initially selected in the squad, withdrew due to a lower back issue. Choudhary had been ruled out of the entire Indian Premier League (IPL) season owing to a stress fracture of the back. The left-armer hasn’t played since December. Mohsin Khan, another left-armer, is set to miss the first few matches for Lucknow Super Giants, according to their coach Andy Flower. He hasn’t played a single game since IPL 2022, with a shoulder injury and subsequent surgery consigning him to the sidelines for almost a year now. As Mandira Bedi announces that "74 action packed games" is set to be played this season during the opening ceremony, let us remember that this is the fallout of relentless, all-year round cricket.