Gujarat Titans upset the reigning champions, Chennai Super Kings, by an impressive 35 runs in a game they had to win.
The Ruturaj Gaikwad-led team struggled in all three areas—bowling, batting, and fielding—endangering their chances of making it to the IPL 2024 playoffs.
Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan, who batted first, provided GT with an ideal start. The two combined for 210 runs, which established the tone for the game. While Sudharsan scored 103 runs off 51 balls, Gill, who scored the 100th century in IPL history, made 104 runs off 55 deliveries. They destroyed CSK in the middle, particularly in the middle overs, and stole the game from them. The runs stopped after they returned to the pavilion, but GT still managed 231 runs, which was sufficient for them.
The CSK batsmen never appeared to be at ease during the chase. After a run-out, Rachin Ravindra strolled back to the pavilion, as Ajinkya Rahane’s dismal form persisted. Although Moeen Ali and Daryl Mitchell did manage to regain some momentum, it never seemed to be enough. Ali scored 56 runs off 36 balls, and Mitchell scored 63 off 34 balls. But once they left, CSK’s situation deteriorated. Even though Dhoni eventually struck a few sixes, it was insufficient.
1. Destruction-loving brothers
In the end, CSK was defeated because Gill and Sai were truly the brothers of devastation. The CSK bowlers were clueless as to how to stop the pair, who each scored a century. While Tushar Deshpande made a simple catch blunder that allowed Gill an additional lifeline, the CSK bowlers had a really difficult day in the thick of things.
2. Rolling GT bowlers
In Ahmedabad, GT’s bowlers were excellent against CSK. Despite their occasional struggles against Mitchell and Moeen, they were outstanding overall, which enabled them to secure a crucial win that would keep them in the running for the playoffs. Notably, Rashid Khan claimed two and Mohit Sharma claimed three wickets to complete the task.
Losing skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad said:
Our fielding let us down, we gave away 10-15 runs extra I think, execution wise we were good, but they played some really good shots. You can’t control batters when they playing so well and going good. It’s real quick, we got to fly quick and we have a tough game in Chennai, so we got to turn up well there as well.
Winning skipper and POTM Shubman Gill said:
It’s just a cramp, nothing more. When you have so many people supporting you, it gets much easier. Loved the freeness of it, we didn’t have targets in mind, we maximised every over and opportunity in front of us. We have a good camaraderie between us, we run the twos, we understand each other well. In terms of numbers, definitely it is [our best opening partnerships].
Mohit bhai has done it for us in the last couple of years and has done it tremendously for us. He was a revelation for us, one or two bad games happen. Honestly at one point 250 was for the taking and we fell short. IN the last two-three overs they bowled well. I though we were 10-15 short not in terms of the match but in terms of net run rate.
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