Watch: Fans go crazy after watching MS Dhoni’s vintage hitting against Gujarat in the first game of ITL 2023
Four times champion Chennai squared off against defending champion Gujarat in the season opener on Friday at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Star Chennai batter, Ruturaj Gaikwad shined with the bat […]
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Mar 31, 2023 11:18 pm
MS Dhoni (Source: Twitter)
Four times champion Chennai squared off against defending champion Gujarat in the season opener on Friday at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Star Chennai batter, Ruturaj Gaikwad shined with the bat as Chennai posted a total of 178/7 in 20 overs after batting first. He smashed 92 runs off 50 balls with the help of four boundaries and nine maximums. Meanwhile, Chennai fans were also treated by the glimpses of vintage MS Dhoni.
Dhoni, who is playing a competitive game almost after 10 months, scored 14 runs off 7 balls in his brief innings. Dhoni came to bat at no.8 for the first time in his career and struggled early on. However, after an early struggle, Dhoni smashed Joshua Little for a massive six to treat his fans in the stands. In the last over of Chennai’s innings, he once again smashed Little for a boundary. Fans went crazy after his amazing hitting.
Reportedly, Dhoni is playing his last season of the Indian T20 League. He is leading Chennai in the 14th season as he took over captaincy last year after Jadeja stepped down from the position. Under Jadeja’s captaincy, Chennai failed to mark any impact and finished 9th on the points table. Dhoni and the company are looking to win the game to start well in the season.
Tushar Deshpande becomes the first Impact player of ITL 2023
After scoring 178/7 in the first innings, Chennai utilized the impact player rule to replace Ambati Raydu with Tushar Deshpande. Tushar became the first impact player of the season, and Chennai became the first team to use the newly introduced rule. Meanwhile, Gujarat replaced Kane Williamson with Sai Sudarshan as their impact player.
Talking about the chase, in the second innings, Gujarat scored 65 runs after losing one wicket in the powerplay. Opener Shubman Gill, along with Wrridhiman Saha, added 37 runs for the first wicket. Saha, in his brief innings, scored 25 runs off 16 balls before getting dismissed by Rajvardhan Hangerkar.
