The entire Chepauk Stadium was buzzing with an electric atmosphere as two giants, the Chennai Super Kings and the Mumbai Indians were facing off each other in what fans like to call the ‘ElClásico’ of the Indian Premier League. Chennai Super Kings skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and invited the guests, Mumbai Indians to bat first.
The opening gamble
When the umpires walked out to the middle to begin the proceedings of the game, fans were expecting to see Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan all padded up and ready to walk out to take guard. However, to everyone’s surprise, Rohit Sharma excluded himself from the opening slot for today’s IPL 2023 encounter against the Chennai Super Kings. The fans were left bewildered to see Cameron Green open the innings alongside Ishan Kishan.
In a tactical move, Rohit Sharma had decided to push him down the order, in order to face more spinners. Rohit has struggled against pace this season, and with Deepak Chahar taking on the new ball, Rohit was being cautious and sent Cameron Green to open the innings. The decision of sending Cameron Green was also inspired by the fact that Green had once smashed the Indian bowling attack when he had opened for Australia in a T20 international game.
The failure
Rohit and team were confident that the gamble would work and that Green would give the team a flying start. However, the gamble didn’t work much for the Mumbai Indians as Tushar Deshpande got rid of Cameron Green in the second over of the innings. Deshpande bowled a delivery just short of good length that angled in. Green went for the pull but the ball skidded and hit the off stump, sending Green back to the dugout.
Rohit Sharma eventually had to walk out to the middle to bat at 3. However, his stint at the crease also didn’t last much longer as the MI skipper was dismissed for a duck by Deepak Chahar in the 3rd over only, reducing MI’s score to 14/3.
Stay updated with all the cricketing action, follow Cricadium on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
