rubber plantation

Seasoned New Zealand batter Williamson sustained an injury to his right knee while attempting a catch against Chennai Super Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium. It is a big blow for the Titans as Williamson was expected to be the mainstay of their middle order.

That was Mark Wood's lone match for Chennai Super Kings, who had bought him for Rs 1.5 crore in the auction in January 2018. He was bought by Lucknow Super Giants for IPL 2022 for 7.5 crore but withdrew from the tournament due to an elbow injury.

There has been a lot of excitement and buzz amongst fans on social media on whether talismanic Australia batter Steve Smith would make his return to the competition as a replacement for Williamson. Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar thinks if Smith joins Gujarat as a replacement player, he could even help captain Hardik Pandya with leadership duties.

CSK's Tushar Deshpande became the first Impact Player (substitute) in the IPL. He came in place of Ambati Rayudu. GT's Sai Sudharsan joined him as the second player to be picked as Impact Player, coming in as a substitute for New Zealand batter Kane Williamson, who had suffered an injury while fielding in the first innings.

Gaikwad's scintillating 92-run innings was decorated with four boundaries and nine maximums. Alzarri Joseph was the pick of the bowler, who struck twice in the 18th over after conceding 18 runs off his first over to claim the big wickets of Gaikwad and Ravindra Jadeja.

About playing against Dhoni, Hardik Pandya said "Almost everyone in the country has got motivation from him (Dhoni). Been a fan and admirer of him. Want boys to enjoy it. The result will take care of itself. Impact Player is different, so I've left it to (coach). Ashu pa works all night on what needs to be done."

Mukesh Choudhary, who made his IPL debut last season and scalped 16 wickets, is recovering from a stress fracture and hence, is sidelined from the 16th edition of the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL). The announcement was made on Thursday, the eve of CSK's season-opener against defending champions Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad.

"We are waiting for Mukesh but we do not have much hope. He was one of our bowling mainstays last year. It will be unfortunate if he misses out," Kasi Viswanathan, the CEO of CSK, was quoted as saying in the report. Choudhary's last game of competitive cricket was a List A match for his state team Maharashtra in December 2022 and has been out of action since then.

In July 2015, the Justice Lodha Committee handed a two-year ban to CSK and Rajasthan Royals for their owners' involvement in the IPL 2013 fixing scandal, due to which Dhoni moved to playing for the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiants for two years. But when CSK returned in 2018, Dhoni led them to the trophy and did a repeat of the triumph in 2021.

Jamieson's replacement, Magala, has rich experience in the shortest format of the game. Though he has played just four T20Is for South Africa, Magala has a reputation for being a regular wicket-taker in domestic T20 games over the years. He will join CSK at his base price of INR 50 lakh.