Toss Rising Pune Supergiants chose to bat v Gujarat Lions
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File photo – Pravin Tambe was one of three inclusions in Gujarat Lions’ side © BCCI
Rising Pune Supergiants captain MS Dhoni chose to bat against Gujarat Lions in the first IPL game at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot. Suresh Raina, who said he would have batted, made three changes to the Lions side that beat Kings XI Punjab in Mohali.
Legspinner Pravin Tambe, left-arm spinner Shadab Jakati and batsman Akshdeep Nath were drafted in for Pradeep Sangwan, Sarabjit Ladda and Ishan Kishan.
Supergiants were unchanged from the side that won the tournament opener against Mumbai Indians. “[There is an] Even covering of grass. Towards one end, there is a bald patch which might scuff up. It’s a pretty good wicket, so no real need to make any change,” Dhoni said of the pitch.
Gujarat Lions: 1 Brendon McCullum , 2 Aaron Finch, 3 Suresh Raina (capt), 4 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 5 Dwayne Bravo, 6 Akshdeep Nath, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 James Faulkner, 9 Praveen Kumar, 10 Shadab Jakati, 11 Pravin Tambe
Rising Pune Supergiants: 1 Ajinkya Rahane, 2 Faf du Plessis, 3 Kevin Pietersen, 4 Steven Smith, 5 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Rajat Bhatia, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Ishant Sharma, 10 RP Singh, 11 M Ashwin
Nikhil Kalro is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo