CSK vs GT: MS Dhoni hits mammoth six on return to cricket, crowd goes berserk- WATCH

IPL 2023: Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni on Friday made his return to the Indian Premier League after a gap of nearly one year. Dhoni returned to competitive cricket during the opening match of IPL 2023 against Hardik Pandya's Gujarat Titans. While batting in the first innings of the match, Dhoni smashed a mammoth six as the crowd went berserk at the Narendra Modi Stadium. The incident occurred in the final over of Chennai's innings. Debutant Joshua Little was bowling for Gujarat Titans at that time.  

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As far as the match is concerned, Gujarat Titans skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss and elected to bowl first. Batting first, Chennai posted 178/7 in 20 overs courtesy of Ruturaj Gaikwad, who smashed 92 off 50 balls. Moeen Ali scored 23 off 17 balls before he was dismissed by Rashid Khan. MS Dhoni came in and scored a quickfire 14 off just 7 balls. 

Also Read: CSK Vs GT: Kane Williamson Brilliant Effort Saves Six But Likely Ends His IPL 2023 Season

In the second innings, Chennai entered the field with the first-ever Impact substitute of IPL as Tushar Deshpande replaced Ambati Rayudu in their playing XI. Gujarat Titans were also forced to introduce their first impact player, sending Sai Sudharsan in place of an injured Kane Williamson. The Kiwi star injured his knee while fielding near the boundary rope in the first innings. 

Also Read: 'Thala Is Back': Netizens Can't Wait For MS Dhoni's IPL Return To Cricket After 314 Days

Gujarat Titans vs Chennai Super Kings: Playing XIs

Gujarat Titans XI: Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Shubman Gill, Kane Williamson, Hardik Pandya (c), Vijay Shankar, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Shami, Joshua Little, Yash Dayal, Alzarri Joseph

Chennai Super Kings XI: Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ben Stokes, Ambati Rayudu, Moeen Ali, Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Rajvardhan Hangargekar

GT vs CSK: Full squads

Gujarat Titans squad: Hardik Pandya (c), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Abhinav Manohar, Rahul Tewatia, B. Sai Sudharsan, Darshan Nalkande, Jayant Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Pradeep Sangwan, R. Sai Kishore, Shubman Gill, Vijay Shankar, Yash Dayal, Alzarri Joseph, David Miller, Matthew Wade, Noor Ahmad, Rashid Khan, Shivam Mavi, Kane Williamson, KS Bharat, Odean Smith, Mohit Sharma, Urvil Patel, Joshua Little.

CSK squad: MS Dhoni (c), Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu, Subhranshu Senapati, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Dwaine Pretorius, Mitchell Santner, Ravindra Jadeja, Tushar Deshpande, Mukesh Chowdhary, Matheesha Pathirana, Simarjeet Singh, Deepak Chahar, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana, Ajinkya Rahane, Ben Stokes, Shaik Rasheed, Nishant Sindhu, Ajay Mandal, Bhagath Varma.

Image: BCCI/IPL