The 16th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will get underway on Friday (March 31) with a clash between defending champions Gujarat Titans and four-time winners Chennai Super Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. CSK have already got a big scare on the eve of the opener with skipper MS Dhoni missing the training session due to a left knee injury.

The 41-year-old former India skipper has apparently sustained a niggle on his left knee during a training session in Chennai and didn’t bat at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Motera during CSK’s nets on Thursday (March 30). When CSK CEO Kasi Viswanthan was asked, he told PTI news agency, “As far as I am concerned, the skipper is 100 percent playing. I don’t know about any other development.”

Thala MS Dhoni Welcoming All The New Recruits of The Season __ pic.twitter.com/LXioMwP7im

— Junaid Khan (@JunaidKhanation) March 30, 2023

In case Dhoni doesn’t play, CSK then might ask one among Devon Conway or Ambati Rayudu to keep wickets, as they don’t have any specialised stumper in their ranks. Dhoni does a lot of pre-season training, but in order to conserve energy, he normally doesn’t train a lot when the tournament starts.

Apart from Dhoni, there is another injury concern as Mukesh Choudhary has also been ruled out of the tournament while England all-rounder Ben Stokes will be playing only as a batter in the first few matches. It remains to be seen if Ajinkya Rahane, who was picked by CSK during IPL 2023 auction, will make his debut in the IPL 2023 opener.

Gujarat Titans, on the other hand, will be missing the services of David Miller – who is on South African national duty. Former New Zealand and Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Kane Williamson is expected to make his GT debut in Miller’s absence.

For this game, apart from Miller, Joshua Little is also unavailable for the Gujarat Titans. Chennai Super Kings will miss the services of Sisanda Magala, Matheesha Pathirana and Maheesh Theekshana for this opening game.

Gujarat Titans vs Chennai Super Kings IPL 2023 Match No. 1 Predicted 11

Gujarat Titans: A Manohar, Shubman Gill, Kane Williamson, Hardik  Pandya (C), Rahul Tewatia, Matthew Wade, Rashid Khan, Shivam Mavi, Alzarri Joseph, Mohammed Shami, Yash Dayal

Chennai Super Kings: Devon Conway, Ambati Rayudu, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwaine Pretorius, MS Dhoni (C), Deepak Chahar, Simarjeet Singh