Chennai Super Kings (CSK), on Tuesday (March 26), thrashed Gujarat Titans (GT) by 63 runs to register their second win in as many games in the ongoing IPL 2024. Chasing 207, GT finished their innings on a modest 143 for 8.
Captain Shubman Gill failed to give his team a good start and was dismissed for just 8 by Deepak Chahar in the third over. Six runs later, Chahar struck again to remove other opener Wriddhiman Saha as well to leave CSK reeling at 34 for 2 in the fifth over.
The likes of Vijay Shankar (12), David Miller (21) and Azmatullah Omarzai (11) failed to get going as GT kept losing wickets at regular intervals. As a result, the 2022 IPL champions never really got the impetus to chase down the 200-plus total.
When Matheesha Pathirana dismissed Sai Sudharsan for 31 in the 15th over, GT were reduced to 114 for 5. GT kept losing wickets and eventually finished on 143 for 8 to suffer their first defeat of the season.
CSK vs GT: CSK innings
Asked to bat first, CSK posted a big total of 206 for 6 in the allotted 20 overs. Rachin Ravindra continued his impressive start to life in IPL and gave the home side another quick start. The New Zealand opener got going by hitting Umesh Yadav for a six and a four in the second over.
In the third over, he hit two more fours before hitting another six and a four in the following over. In the fifth over, he hit a six to take CSK to the 50-run mark. Rashid Khan finally ended Ravindra’s knock in the sixth over as the latter was stumped for 46. He and Ruturaj Gaikwad added 62 runs for the first wicket.
After Ravindra’s departure, Gaikwad shifted gears and helped CSK cross the 100-run mark in the tenth over. On the first ball of the 11th over, Sai Kishore had Ajinkya Rahane stumped for 12 but Shivam Dube did not let the spinner celebrate for long. The southpaw hit the first two balls he faced for two sixes to get going.
Spencer Johnson dismissed Gaikwad for 46 in the 13th over before Dube and Daryl Mitchell added 57 runs for the fourth wicket. Dube completed his fifty off just 22 balls in the 18th over before being dismissed by Rashid Khan for 51 in the 19th. In the same over, Sameer Rizvi hit the leg-spinner for two sixes to take CSK closer to 200. Mohit Sharma bowled a fine last over, conceding only eight as CSK finished on 206.
CSK vs GT scorecard:
