Gujarat Titans defeated Chennai Super Kings in the opening match of the tournament, held on Friday, March 31 in Ahmedabad, despite a magnificent 92 from Ruturaj Gaikwad. Shubman Gill mitigated the impact of Gaikwad’s innings early on, but the Titans’ middle order delivered the knockout blows down the stretch to seal the victory with four balls to spare.
CSK’s overseas triumvirate flops.
Moeen Ali’s first seven deliveries featured six dots, and CSK struggled to get going in the powerplay because the usually reliable Devon Conway hit a poor shot that got him bowled by Mohammed Shami. While Moeen sparked things off by challenging Shami, he battled against Rashid Khan and was dismissed by him in the nick of time. Big money signing Ben Stokes went out at No.4 for CSK, but he was quickly snapped up by Rashid for very little money.
Ruparaj’s six-hour party
Gaikwad batted like a dream despite the fact that he was losing partners at the other end. Despite his reputation for being slow to start, Gaikwad put on quite a show for CSK by consistently clearing the ropes. CSK reached 90 in 9.2 overs thanks to back-to-back sixes over extra cover off Hardik Pandya and three smashes to the fence on the leg side from Alzarri Joseph. The opener kept hitting sixes and looked good for a hundred at one point in the slaughter. Gaikwad hit nine sixes but fell short of a century by eight runs.
So, what happened that CSK only scored 179?
CSK’s decision to put Ambati Rayudu and Shivam Dube ahead of Ravindra Jadeja backfired badly, despite their lengthy batting lineup. Rayudu failed to get going despite clearing the ropes once, while Dube had trouble putting speed away throughout the night due to the surface’s inherent bounce. After a fast start (90 off 9 overs), CSK’s scoring rate dropped dramatically due to his difficulties. CSK’s extended batting lineup wasn’t able to save them in the end, as bowlers like Joseph, Rashid, and Shami restricted the opposition to 45 runs in the final five overs.
How effective were the back-up plans?
Both sides made substitutions along expected lines during the inning break. After being brought in for Rayudu to bolster the bowling attack, Tushar Deshpande made history by being the first impact replacement in IPL history. Wriddhiman Saha welcomed him with a four and a six to open the Titans’ onslaught, but he got off to a rough start. As Deshpande let up 29 runs in his first two overs, it was Gill’s turn to face him in the next. Deshpande’s leaky batting allowed him to be bowled out for 51 runs in only 20 overs.
Titans were forced to reinforce their top order when Kane Williamson was injured on the boundary during CSK’s innings, prompting them to bring in Sai Sudharsan. After Saha’s brief appearance on the powerplay, the kid strolled out and promptly hit a boundary off the first ball he faced. The 22 he was out for came after he edged a wide delivery from Rajvardhan Hangargekar after looking quite excellent alongside Gill.
Nice as hell, Shubman
Gill, who was among the best hitters heading into the event, was confident from the get-go. With 25 runs under his belt by the conclusion of the power play, Gill wisely deployed extra cover against Jadeja and Mitchell Santner, both of whom bowled with their left arms. As a consequence, Titans are in a strong position thanks to his fifty (from only 30 balls). After Hardik Pandya’s early departure, he stayed in the game and batted deeply, eventually reducing the equation to 41 runs off 31 balls by smashing Deshpande for another six. Gill attempted a replica but missed, giving Deshpande a chance to somewhat redeem himself after his opener had fallen for 63.
It’s over
Although though Titans triumphed with four balls to spare, things were far from easy for them down the stretch. Titans’ pursuit lost some steam in the second half as Vijay Shankar produced only 13 from his first 12 deliveries following Hardik’s 11-ball 8. However, David Miller wasn’t there, so they needed someone else to take charge now that Gill was back in the shack.
Hangargekar bounced back strongly from giving up a six to Vijay by removing him with the next ball, following a tight over from Deepak Chahar. Then Rashid came out and hammered a six off the first ball to get Titans going again, and then he hit a streaky boundary to cut the deficit to 8 runs in the penultimate over. Rahul Tewatia put Deshpande out of his misery by ending the game for the Titans with sixes off the first two balls.
Chennai Super Kings 178/7 in 20 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 92; Rashid Khan 2/26, Mohammed Shami 2/29); Gujarat Titans 182/5 in 19.2 overs (Shubman Gill 63; Rajvardhan Hangargekar 3/36); Chennai Super Kings lose by 5 wickets.
