Xtra Time Web Desk: After 58 days and 73 matches stage is set for IPL 2023 final. Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans will be back at the same venue where they met for the first match of the season. MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings would be hoping to reverse the result from that fixture where they were beaten comprehensively by five wickets by Hardik Pandya’s Gujarat Titans.
24 hours before the grand finale, the build up was as low key as it could get with the big stars from both teams deciding to stay away from pratice sessions. As Deepak Chahar, Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaukwad, Ajinkya Rahane boarded the team bus to leave for training there were no signs of CSK skipper MS Dhoni. Quite a few die-hard fans of Thala were waiting outside the ITC Narmada. But the talisman kept himself confined in his hotel room ahead of the big final.
Chennai Super Kings CEO Kasi Viswanthan did confirm that Dhoni will not train ahead of the final. What could be the reason for Dhoni not practicing a day ahead of the final. Maybe his knee needed rest. Just a couple of days back in Chepauk, Dhoni was seen batting with a heavy strapping. Whatever may be the situation, Dhoni will walk out for toss tomorrow along with his counterpart Hardik Pandya.
While most of the CSK players turned up for practice except Dhoni at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Gujarat Titans had only Vijay Shankar, Rahul Tewatia and Sai Sudarshan training a day ahead of he big final. Most of the players who played against Mumbai Indians inluding the likes of Captain Hardik Pandya, Shubman Gill, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Shami took rest.
Irrespective of who trained or not, the final is expected to be a humdinger on Sunday.