IPL 2023: Faf du Plessis wins toss, elects to bowl first against Chennai Super Kings

Bengaluru, April 17 (IANS) Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain Faf du Plessis won the toss and elected to bowl first against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Monday.

Du Plessis said the dew was one of the factors that got him to field first.

"We will bowl first. I think the nature of pitches will turn, but 180-200 will be a nice target to chase. It is quite a small ground and the ball travels, the surface is good and a little bit of dew could help. No changes in our starting XI but got some tricks up our sleeve for the impact player," he said at the toss.

CSK skipper M.S Dhoni said it was important not to look too far ahead.

"The toss does matter because this is a venue where it is difficult to contain batters in the second innings. And not to forget dew. I think what's important is not looking ahead, maybe 180-200 is a par score but we need to keep re-evaluating every 3-4 overs on where we stand and what would be a good total to get to. That is a better way to approach, rather than keeping a total in mind," said Dhoni.

CSK made one change in their squad as Sisanda Magala is injured. Matheesha Pathirana comes in his place.

"The good thing is all the players who have come in to replace guys have performed well. But these injuries haven't been ideal, but that's what happens because the IPL comes at the end of the cricket season," Dhoni said.

Playing XIs:

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

Substitutes: Akash Singh, Dwaine Pretorius, Subhanshu Senapati, Shaik Rasheed, Rajvardhan Hangargekar

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (c), Mahipal Lomror, Glenn Maxwell, Shahbaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Wayne Parnell, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Mohammed Siraj

Substitutes: Suyash Prabhudessai, David Willey, Akash Deep, Karn Sharma, Anuj Rawat.