The cricketing world is gearing up for the el Clasico of the IPL as the Chennai Super Kings face off against the Mumbai Indians at the MA Chidambaram Stadium for Match 49 of the IPL 2023. Chennai Super Kings skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and decided to bowl first on his team’s home turf. Chennai fielded the same squad but to much surprise of everyone, Rohit Sharma excluded the name of Tilak Varma from the squad for this important fixture.
Why is Tilak Varma not playing today against Chennai Super Kings?
The decision left everyone baffled as Tialk had been the team’s most successful batter in the league so far. However, when asked, Rohit Sharma revealed that Tilak is feeling ill and has been left out of the squad as a preventive measure. Instead of Tilak Varma, the team has included South African wicketkeeper batter Tristan Stubbs in the Playing XI.
“Going pretty well, had a couple of good games, just about continuing the momentum. We have some worries, but we’ve started to do well. It’s been challenging to find the right players and the right combinations. We know our strengths and the players who can fit in. Two changes for us – Kumar Kartikeya is OUT, a debut for Raghav Goyal. Tilak Varma is ill, he’s replaced by Tristan Stubbs.”, said Rohit Sharma after losing the toss against the Chennai Super Kings.
A young IPL career
Stubbs was bought by MI during the 2022 mega auction. However, his IPL career is very young as the right-handed batter has only played 3 games so far. In these 3 games, Stubbs has scored just 7 runs at a strike rate of 50. This season, Stubbs has only played one game before today’s encounter, scoring 5 runs in that game. However, his T20 record is far better, having scored more than a thousand runs in 54 games at an almost 150-strike rate.
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