'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQAAAQABAAD/2wCEAAMDAwMDAwQEBAQFBQUFBQcHBgYHBwsICQgJCAsRCwwLCwwLEQ8SDw4PEg8bFRMTFRsfGhkaHyYiIiYwLTA+PlQBAwMDAwMDBAQEBAUFBQUFBwcGBgcHCwgJCAkICxELDAsLDAsRDxIPDg8SDxsVExMVGx8aGRofJiIiJjAtMD4+VP/AABEIAAUACgMBIgACEQEDEQH/xABdAAEBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABAgQAAIBBAMBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAECAwAEBRESITEyAQEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEBREAAgMBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQIAAxEhBP/aAAwDAQACEQMRAD8Ay2l5jreJomxNrIFhUrst1wBBPv0xIJNSNhMZOxlEJQOeQUO2l33oUpVL0VoqrgzgharHJOnemf/Z'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Gujarat Titans (GT) have won the toss and decided to bat first against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the 13th match of IPL 2023 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday, April 9.
Rashid Khan came out for the toss in place of regular skipper Hardik Pandya, who is unwell and will miss the clash. All-rounder Vijay Shankar has been slotted in place of Hardik in GT's playing XI.
Meanwhile, for KKR, Lockie Ferguson and Narayan Jagadeeshan replaced Tim Southee and Mandeep Singh, respectively, in the playing XI.
Here is the list of Impact players in today's match:
Gujarat Titans: Josh Little, Jayant Yadav, Srikar Bharat, Mohit Sharma, and Matthew Wade.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Mandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, Venkatesh Iyer, and David Wiese.
The hosts were the first team to use the Impact Player substitute. Ireland-born fast bowler Josh Little came in for Sai Sudharsan at the mid-innings break.
KKR brought in Venkatesh Iyer in place of leg-spinner Suyash Sharma after the dismissal of Rahmanullah Gurbaz
Speaking at the toss, GT's stand-in captain Rashid revealed that Hardik was unwell and the Titans didn't want to take any risks with the ace all-rounder.
"Just unwell slightly, don't want to take risks with him. As a team, we will try to play good cricket. We would like to bat well and put runs on the board," the star leg-spinner said.
KKR skipper Nitish Rana stressed that they wanted to bat first as well. He also reckoned that defending a total will be easy on this ground, given that it is an afternoon game.
"We wanted to bat first as well because of the weather and conditions," Nitish said. "I felt defending might be easier. We had in our minds that batting first would be the way to go so that our spinners can make use of the surface in the second half but it's okay."
GT vs KKR Playing XIs
Gujarat Titans: Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Vijay Shankar, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Abhinav Manohar, Rashid Khan (c), Mohammed Shami, Alzarri Joseph, and Yash Dayal.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), N Jagadeesan, Nitish Rana (c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Suyash Sharma, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, and Varun Chakaravarthy.
