Defending champions, Chennai has had a forgettable start to their Indian T20 League campaign. For the first time in the Indian T20 League, they have lost their first four games of a season. The Yellow Brigade has also been marred by the injuries to Deepak Chahar and Adam Milne. Last year’s Orange Cap winner Ruturaj Gaikwad has been finding it difficult to score runs.
In the four games played by the four-time champions, they only came close to winning against Lucknow when they needed to defend 34 runs in two overs. However, Shivam Dube conceded 25 runs in the penultimate which meant that the team lost the game by six wickets. Apart from this game, they were outplayed in the rest of the games. Here, we will discuss the three changes the Ravindra Jadeja-led side needs to do to win their first game.
Narayan Jagadeeshan in place of Ruturaj Gaikwad
Ruturaj Gaikwad has been woefully out of form in the ongoing season so far. Gaikwad has returned with scores of 0,1,1, and 18 in the first four games. Although the skipper of the team, Jadeja has backed him, it is to be noted that the team is heading towards a must-win situation in the tournament. The team has the services of Narayan Jagadeeshan, who is a top-order batter. The right-hander has played 43 games, amassing 906 runs at an average of 32.35 and a strike rate of 117.66.
Rajvardhan Hangargekar in place of Shivam Dube
Shivam Dube has looked good with the bat, with two good knocks against Lucknow and Punjab. However, he looks weak in the bowling department. In the game against Lucknow, he conceded 25 runs in the penultimate over which proved costly for the team. In some of the games, he hasn’t bowled at all. On the other hand, Hagargekar has good pace and can trouble the batters. He is also a big hitter of the ball. In the five List A games played by the 2022 U19 World Cup winner, the right-arm bowler has picked 10 wickets, averaging 22.40.
Dwaine Pretorius in place of Chris Jordan
Chris Jordan conceded 34 runs in three overs he bowled against Hyderabad. On the other hand, Pretorius conceded less than nine runs in the two games he played against Lucknow and Punjab. He should definitely play against Bangalore.
