The new IPL 2023 season begins on Friday afternoon and it does so when the last two champions of the tournament meet when the Gujarat Titans take on the Chennai Super Kings in a highly anticipated match in Ahmedabad.
Both teams know they have 14 matches this season but getting off to a fast start can take a lot of pressure off of whoever comes out on top. Gujarat will want to get their title defence off to a good start while Chennai will be hoping to put a terrible season behind them.
Gujarat Titans
The Gujarat Titans went into last season without too much expectation on them as they were a new franchise entering the league and everyone expected them to need a campaign to make sure they have a strong enough squad to compete and settle into their work. They blew those thoughts out of the window and won the title at their first attempt and now they go into this term full of expectation and pressure on their shoulders to live up to last year.
The big success of the Titans last year was the batting. Three players scored over 480 runs last term and if that trio can go well again here then we know an attack which contains Rashid Khan and Mohammed Shami can get the job done. The Titans will be without David Miller for this match which might be significant so they could use Matthew Wade as a finisher and bat around Kane Williamson in this match.
Chennai Super Kings
The Chennai Super Kings have had a bit of an all or nothing outcome to their IPL seasons in recent times. They either tend to win the tournament or they do nothing and they will hope that the 2023 season very much follows the former. The Super Kings have had to go through a bit of a transition in recent times with an aging squad having to be overhauled and major repair work done to it. There is a feeling that there is still work to do in the next auction but time will tell.
You would imagine that the Super Kings are going to come home with a wet sail if they do happen to do anything this season. Five of their opening eight matches are away from home and this is a squad set up to be equipped to deal with the very different conditions in Chepauk. Chennai are going to be missing a number of players for this opening match with Maheesh Theekshana, Matheesha Pathirana and Sisanda Magala all on international duty.
Special Offer
Sign up for a Boylesports account and bet £10 to get up to £20 in free bets! Perfect offer for this series! Click the image below for this great offer! New accounts only. 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware.
Key Players
Hardik Pandya was one of the players of the tournament last year and as the heir to the throne in the Indian side it would do him no harm to have a day out here. With no David Miller his finishing power could be most important.
Ben Stokes was the big signing for the Chennai Super Kings ahead of this season but injury looks like it is going to restrict him to playing as a batter only. His T20 batting record is nowhere near as good as it should be but he might get a good chance to rectify that.
Betting
I say it every season but I’m not going to go too mad in the opening game of the campaign. We have new squads here and in the main there has been a bit of a rush for a lot of players to get to India with a number of international series taking place recently so I’ll see how the new players bed into their different teams. It is even more the case this season with the new rules and regulations so I’m definitely going to take largely a watching brief in this match.
I do expect this one to be a high scoring match though. I don’t think Chennai Super Kings matches will follow that path when those three international bowlers arrive but without them they are going to need a few more runs and bat aggressively. Aggressive batting is pretty much the mantra of the Gujarat Titans and I expect them to come out swinging and put a bit of a marker down in their title defence. The boundaries in Ahmedabad are perfectly accessible and we should get a good pitch to open up the showcase with. I don’t think a 40.5 boundary line is high enough here.
Tips
Back Over 40.5 boundaries for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with William Hill
Back it here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2023
