Chennai, Apr 5 (UNI) New Zealand opener Devon Conway returned to the Chennai Super Kings line-up, while Delhi Capitals were forced to leave out Faf du Plessis due to fitness concerns, as the visitors won the toss and elected to bat first in the 17th match of the IPL 2025 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Saturday.
Conway replaced Craig Overton in the CSK XI, marking a timely comeback at the top of the order. For Delhi, Sameer Rizvi came in for Faf, who was ruled out shortly before the match.
Speaking at the toss, DC captain Axar Patel said the decision to bat first was influenced by pitch conditions. “Feels like there’ll be help for the bowlers. Expect it to get slower as the game progresses,” he said. “In our team, we have a few players who have captained other franchises and that helps me a lot,” he added, confirming an otherwise unchanged line-up.
CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad admitted he would have batted first as well. “We were looking to bat as well. Looks a bit dry. It’s a bit cloudy, won’t change much,” he said. Gaikwad, who has recovered from an elbow concern, said the team was focused on building momentum and improving fielding standards.
Apart from Conway’s inclusion, CSK also brought in Mukesh Choudhary in place of Rahul Tripathi.
Teams:
Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Rachin Ravindra, Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Vijay Shankar, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni(w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Noor Ahmad, Mukesh Choudhary, Khaleel Ahmed, Matheesha Pathirana
Impact Subs: Shivam Dube, Jamie Overton, Shaik Rasheed, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Nathan Ellis
Delhi Capitals (Playing XI): Jake Fraser-McGurk, KL Rahul(w), Abishek Porel, Tristan Stubbs, Sameer Rizvi, Axar Patel(c), Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohit Sharma
Impact Subs: Mukesh Kumar, Karun Nair, Darshan Nalkande, Donovan Ferreira, Tripurana Vijay.
UNI BDN ARN