IPL 2023: Mohammed Shami breaches Devon Conway's defences to grab his 100th wicket in tournament

The 16th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) started with a grand opening ceremony at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Popular celebrities, Arjit Singh, Tamannah Bhatia, and Rashmika Mandanna captivated the crowd with their dazzling performances. Hardik Pandya, Gujarat Titans (GT) skipper, won the toss and opted to bowl first in the IPL 2023 opening match against Chennai Super Kings (CSK). 

While CSK were looking into settling, GT pacer Mohammed Shami took the first wicket of the season by, dismissing CSK opener Devon Conway early in the game. The CSK wicketkeeper-batter could only score one run off six balls. Notably, it was the Indian pacer's 100th wicket in the lucrative T20 league.

Watch Devon Conway's dismissal:

IndianPremierLeague@IPL

A cracking delivery to get his 1⃣0⃣0⃣th IPL wicket 🔥🔥 @MdShami11 picks the first wicket of #TATAIPL 2023! Follow the match ▶️ bit.ly/TATAIPL-2023-01 #GTvCSK

07:55 PM · Mar 31, 2023

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Despite losing an early wicket, opener Ruturak Gaikwad and Moeen Ali then helped CSK dominate the powerplay. However, the English all-rounder fell to Rashid Khan in the last over of the powerplay. Gaikwad is now batting alongside CSK’s new signing Ben Stokes (at the time of writing)

Speculations around MS Dhoni put to rest

There had been speculation about whether MS Dhoni would play in the IPL 2023 opener, but the legendary CSK captain was present at the toss. Many are assuming 2023 to be CSK skipper's last season in the league. Retirement from the cash-rich league would effectively mean the end of Dhoni's glorious professional career and that would mark the end of an era after leading CSK to four titles.

Following the toss, Dhoni addressed the IPL's latest rule, the 'Impact Player' rule. The legendary captain stated that it enables in making quick decisions.

"It's a luxury to have (impact player) and it becomes slightly easy to use here because in domestic (Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy) it was at the 14th over. It becomes slightly easy to take the decision because you can use it at any time. Influence of allrounder has become slightly less because of the rule," Dhoni said.