'Obviously MS Dhoni is the captain': Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu, Sindhu pick all-time CSK XI in nail-biting session
Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu and Nishant Sindhu were left scratching their heads, in a nail-biting session, where they asked to pick their all-time CSK XI.
IPL 2023 is scheduled to begin from March 31, and fans will be gearing up for the cricket festival to follow. The season opener will be between defending champions Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings, at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. All eyes will be on the captaincy battle between Hardik Pandya and MS Dhoni, as the student faces the master.
CSK also did some good business in the IPL 2023 auction, and boosted their roster. The franchise purchased England star Ben Stokes for RS 16.25 crore, and also roped in Kyle Jamieson for ₹1 crore. The four-time IPL champions also acquired Nishant Sindhu ( ₹60 lakhs), Ajinkya Rahane ( ₹50 lakhs), Bhagath Varma ( ₹20 lakhs), Ajay Mandal ( ₹20 lakhs) and Shaik Rasheed ( ₹20 lakhs).
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Boasting a strong roster, CSK will be hoping to not repeat last season, where they finished ninth in the 10-team standings. Ahead of the season opener, Ambati Rayudu, Rahane and Sindhu were called in by the franchise's media team to select their all-time CSK XI, which left them scratching their heads in a nail-biting session.
The session was so nerve-wracking, that they ended up selecting more than 11 players and didn't even realise it. The beginning of the selection went fine, where they selected Mike Hussey, Matthew Hayden, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Rahane added, "Obviously MS will be the captain".
Rayudu also felt that Suresh Raina should be at no. 3. But when it went to choosing their fifth player, they were silenced for some seconds, and then chose Ravindra Jadeja and Doug Bollinger. They also added DJ Bravo, Rayudu, Ravichandran Ashwin, Deepak Chahar, Mukesh Choudhary and Morne Morkel.
Here is the video:
Gujarat Titans won the IPL 2022 final, defeating Rajasthan Royals in the final by seven wickets. Chasing a target of 131 runs, GT reached 133/3 in 18.1 overs, with Shubman Gill smacking an unbeaten knock of 45 runs off 43 balls. Initially, a three-wicket haul by Hardik Pandya helped GT restrict RR to 130/9 in 20 overs.
