Why Ambati Rayudu not playing today: The defending champions have made as many as four changes to their Playing XI for this match.
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During the 62nd match of the ongoing 15th season of the Indian Premier League between Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans at the Wankhede Stadium, Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has won the toss and chose to bat primarily due to the hot weather at the venue.
“We will bat first. It’s very hot. The wickets have been used quite a bit so it will slow down. Hope it stays the same throughout or slows down in the second half of the game,” Dhoni told Star Sports at the toss.
Much like Dhoni, Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya also wanted to bat first in this match. First team to qualify for the playoffs this season, Pandya laid emphasis on wanting to play like the best team of the league stage thus far.
“We would have batted first too. There are two options. We can come in today and let things drift away and the second thing is we can show we can play like a number one team, show our character no matter what the pitch or the heat is like,” Pandya told Star Sports at the toss.
Why is Ambati Rayudu not playing vs Gujarat Titans today?
While Titans have refrained from tinkering with their Playing XI, Super Kings have made as many as four changes to their Playing XI. Out of contention for qualifying for the playoffs, the defending champions have rested multiple senior players to provide opportunities to reserve players including a couple of debutants.
Batters Robin Uthappa and Ambati Rayudu, all-rounder Dwayne Bravo and spinner Maheesh Theekshana have been rested to accommodate the likes of batter Narayan Jagadeesan, all-rounder Mitchell Santner, spinner Prashant Solanki and fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana.
While Jagadeesan had played his five IPL matches for CSK during IPL 2022, Santner has palyed four matches this season. Solanki and Pathirana are the two debutants for Chennai today.
Readers must note that Rayudu had announced his retirement from the IPL via a tweet only to delete within 30 minutes. According to ESPNcricinfo, Rayudu made a U-turn on retirement for the second time after CSK management spoke to him.
