Five-time Indian Premier League winners Chennai Super Kings put in a faultless performance at home to hand Gujarat Titans a 63-run loss. The defending champions beat last year’s finalists at the Chepauk Stadium to extend their winning run this season. It was an all-round performance from CSK with their batters doing the job in the first innings, helping them post 206 for 6 on the board, before restricting the opposition to 143 for 8. The win took them all the way to the top of the IPL 2024 points table, with four points from two matches.
It was a battle of young captains as newly-appointed Ruturaj Gaikwad came out on top to hand Shubman Gill his first loss as Gujarat’s captain. The victory also improved CSK's head-to-head record against GT in the IPL, with both sides winning three of their six matches against each other. CSK had also defeated GT in last year’s final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad to win their record-equalling fifth IPL title.
The match saw incredible batting performances from Gaikwad, Rachin Ravindra and Shivam Dube before Deepak Chahar and Tushar Deshpande came to the party for the Chennai-based franchise. Gill and co. had no answers for CSK’s might at home as they registered their first-ever win over GT in the group-stage of the competition.
CSK got off to a flying start with Gaikwad and Rachin Ravindra going hell for leather against the GT pacers. Both the openers smashed Azmatullah Omarzai and Umesh Yadav in the powerplay, forcing Gill to introduce Rashid Khan in the sixth over itself.
However, the move reaped instant rewards as Rashid picked the wicket of the dangerous Ravindra, who departed after scoring 46 runs off 20 balls, having smashed six boundaries and three sixes. However, CSK recovered with Gaikwad and Ajinkya Rahane stitching a 42-run stand before Sai Kishore got the better of Rahane, who got stumped in the 11th over.
Gaikwad fell agonisingly short of his first fifty this season, being dismissed by Spencer Johnson in the 13th over, having scored a 36-ball 46. Shivam Dube then took over and smashed all of GT's spinners around the park.
He smashed his seventh IPL half-century, while forming 57-run stand with New Zealand's Daryl Mitchell. He got past the 50-run mark in 22 balls before being dismissed by Rashid in the very next delivery. Dube departed after scoring 51 runs off 23 balls, hitting two boundaries and five sixes. With this knock, he moved into the top-three run-scorers in IPL 2024, having scored 85 runs in the first two matches. He trails only Punjab's Sam Curran (86 runs) and Bengaluru's Virat Kohli (96 runs) in the race for the Orange Cap.
A late flourish from Sameer Rizvi, which saw him smash Rashid for two sixes in an over, helped CSK post 206 for 6 in the first innings.
In the second innings, Gill and wicket-keeping batter Wriddhiman Saha got their 207-run chase off to a flyer before Deepak Chahar put a halt to their progress by cataching Gill LBW. The right-arm pacer struck again, this time to dismiss Saha in his next over to leave GT reeling at 34 for 2.
Mitchell also joined the party after the powerplay, getting rid of Vijay Shankar, who has been unable to recoup his form from previous seasons. David Miller and B Sai Sudharsan started GT's recovery and formed a gritty 41-run stand. However, a brilliant effort in the field by Rahane led to Miller's dismissal as CSK pacer Tushar Deshpande claimed his 100th T20 wicket.
Sai Sudharsan was the next to fall as his gritty 31-ball 37 was brought to an end by the slinging Matheesha Pathirana. Deshpande doubled his wicket-taking tally by getting rid of Omarzai before Rashid Khan fell at the hands of Bangladesh's Mustafizur Rahman.
The visiting team could manage just 148 for 8 in the second innings with Deshpande, Mustafizur and Chahar claiming two wickets each.
Following their win over GT, CSK will turn their focus towards Delhi Capiatls, with the two sides set to clash at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday, March 31. Meanwhile, GT will lock horns with SunRisers Hyderabad in Ahmedabad on March 31.
