Chennai: Chennai Super Kings (CSK) won the toss and elected to bowl first against fellow five-time winners Mumbai Indians in the second game of Sunday’s first double-header of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here.
MI hold a 20-17 edge over CSK in 37 IPL matches held between the two teams. After winning the toss, CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad said they are going with three pacers and as many spinners, with Noor Ahmad, Nathan Ellis, Rachin Ravindra and Sam Curran being their overseas picks.
“Playing on this pitch for the first time, so don’t really know how it will play. So we just want to adapt and chase accordingly. Looks a good wicket to bat. Prep has been good. We had our young wicket-keeper (a cheeky reference to MS Dhoni) coming back early to the camp,” he said.
MI will be led by Suryakumar Yadav as Hardik Pandya is serving a one-match ban due to a slow over-rate offence from last season. Suryakumar said Ryan Rickelton, Will Jacks, Trent Boult, and Mitchell Santner are the four overseas players, with young pacer Satyanarayana Raju getting his debut IPL cap. “I am good with batting first. We had a lovely camp back home, we were here 2-3 days before. Both are unbelievable franchises in terms of achievements. I am sure it will be a good game,” he said.
The square boundaries at Chepauk don’t have much difference, as it’s 72m on one side while being 75m on the other. The match also marks Ravichandran Ashwin’s return to CSK set-up after nearly a decade.
Playing XIs:
Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Rachin Ravindra, Deepak Hooda, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, MS Dhoni (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Noor Ahmad, Nathan Ellis, Khaleel Ahmed
Impact Substitutes: Rahul Tripathi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Vijay Shankar, Jamie Overton, Shaik Rasheed
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton(w), Will Jacks, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Naman Dhir, Robin Minz, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Trent Boult, and Satyanarayana Raju
Impact Substitutes: Vignesh Puthur, Ashwani Kumar, Raj Bawa, Corbin Bosch, Karn Sharma
(IANS)
