IPL 2023: Krunal Captains LSG as Injured KL Out, Deepak Chahar Returns for CSK

Krunal Pandya and MS Dhoni at the toss on Wednesday afternoon.

(Photo: BCCI)

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) won the toss and elected to bowl first against Lucknow Super Giant (LSG) in Wednesday's evening IPL 2023 match at Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on Wednesday.

CSK skipper MS Dhoni confirmed that Deepak Chahar is fit and will replace Akash Singh in the playing XI.

"The fact that the wicket was under covers and it looks a bit tacky, so we'll look to bowl first. You have to see all conditions and venues. For us, Deepak is fit, so he comes in for Akash," Dhoni said at the toss.

MS Dhoni of Chennai Super Kings and KL Rahul of Lucknow Super Giants before the match 45 of the Tata Indian Premier League between the Lucknow Super Giants and the Chennai Super Kings at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow, on the 3rd May 2023

(Photo: BCCI)

On the other hand, Krunal Pandya will lead LSG as regular skipper KL Rahul has been ruled out of the match due to the injury he picked up in Monday's game against RCB where he had to be assisted off the field after falling while fielding. During Lucknow's batting also KL had not come out until the team was 9 down and there were no other batters left.

Manan Vohra and Karan Sharma have been added to LSG's playing XI.

"We wanted to bat first, so it was even stevens. The batters can go out and express themselves. KL is a big loss, he's a quality player but it creates an opportunity. The morale is pretty high, we are looking to play some positive cricket," said Pandya.

Playing XIs

Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Ajinkya Rahane, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Deepak Chahar, Matheesha Pathirana, Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana

Lucknow Super Giants: Manan Vohra, Kyle Mayers, Marcus Stoinis, Krunal Pandya (C), Karan Sharma, Nicholas Pooran (WK), Ayush Badoni, K Gowtham, Naveen-ul-Haq, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan