Chennai Super Kings (CSK) beat Gujarat Titans (GT) by 15 runs to book their flight to Ahmedabad for the all-important finals of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. This was the last time CSK played at Chepauk in this season and they finished it off in style.
This was also the first time Gujarat Titans lost all their wickets while chasing and this was a statement victory from Chennai Super Kings. MS Dhoni and co. look all set to win their 5th title and match up with Mumbai Indians (MI).
Gujarat now have another chance to qualify for the playoffs when they play in Qualifier 2. They will be playing the winners of the Eliminator and will be facing either Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) or Mumbai Indians (MI).
In this article, we take a look at 3 talking points of the GT vs CSK Qualifier 1 that took place in Chennai:
1. Ruturaj Gaikwad’s fireworks at the top
One of the most consistent performers for CSK in the last few years, Ruturaj Gaikwad once again proved as to why his weight is worth in gold. The 26-year-old cricketer scored 60 runs in just 44 balls and played extremely well in this GT vs CSK game.
Gaikwad also won the player of the match award for his exceptional batting prowess in this GT vs CSK game.
2. Ravindra Jadeja’s economical spell with the ball
One of the main reasons why Chennai Super Kings won this game was because Ravindra Jadeja was extremely economical with the ball. He bowled 2 overs and bagged 2 wickets. Jadeja gave away only 18 runs in those 24 deliveries and was absolutely spot-on with his bowling.
For his match-winning performances in this GT vs CSK game, Ravindra Jadeja also won the Upstox Most Valuable Asset Award for this game. Notably, in the previous game of Chennai against Delhi Capitals (DC), Jadeja wasn’t at his usual best and leaked a lot of runs.
3. Shubman Gill scores well on a tough wicket
On a wicket that became slower in the 2nd innings, the young and talented Shubman Gill was the sole performer for Gujarat but lacked support from the other batters. The 23-year-old batter who was coming on the back of two exceptional hundreds in the last two games, scored 42 runs in 38 balls in this game.
Gill ultimately was dismissed by Deepak Chahar and that essentially tilted the course of the game in favour of Chennai Super Kings.
Also read: IPL 2023: Decoding 5 Reasons Why RCB Couldn’t Qualify For The Playoffs