Indian Premier League 2023 commenced with a prodigious display on Friday night. In the first league match of IPL 2023, Gujarat Titans took on Chennai Super Kings in Ahmedabad. The latter becomes the first team to use an ‘impact player’ in the tournament as they brought in Tushar Deshpande to replace Ambati Rayudu in the XI. The T20 league added the “Impact Player” rule, which allows teams to nominate five players, one of whom can be substituted depending on the game situation in the line-up.

Tushar Deshpande of the CSK team created a record to be the first IPL player utilized in the new impact player rule.

CSK captain Mahindra Singh Dhoni took advantage of the impact rule before the start of the Gujarat Titans’ innings. After the first wicket of the Titans’ innings, their captain Hardik Pandya also used the Impact Player when Sai Sudharsan came on to replace the injured Kane Williamson. The New Zealand star

suffered a knee injury trying to catch during CSK’s innings. He has immediately carried off the field. Super Kings produced a solid 178/7 finish from 20 overs, with Ruturaj Gaikwad leading the team’s top scorer (92 from 50 deliveries). Captain Dhoni also made a small cameo late in the innings, hitting 6 and 4 in the final to complete a 14/7 unbeaten streak.

The Titans’ key player in the inning was Rashid Khan. It was a power play and, as so often, a dangerous-looking 17-ball Moen Ali hit 23 and took the wicket the team was seeking. In his second over for Rashid, he sacked his captain Ben Stokes in the England Test. Ben Stokes shot 70 for 3, which was also caught by goaltender Wriddhiman Saha and CSK. He smashed Arzali Joseph’s attack for 3-6 in 8 overs. The Titans managed to repel several runs in their overs at the center, with Ambati taking a wicket from Rayudu. Struggling to find big hits, Shivam Dube put pressure on Gaikwad.

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