Chennai Super Kings. (Photo Source: BCCI/IPL)
Ruturaj Gaikwad scored 60 off 44 while all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja amassed 22 off 16 and picked up 2/18 in his four-over spell as Chennai Super Kings (CSK) beat defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT) by 15 runs in Qualifier One of IPL 2023 to qualify for the final for the tenth time in 14 seasons.
Speaking about how the game unfolded, skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss and elected to field first in Chennai. Gaikwad’s opening partner Devon Conway racked up 40 off 34 as the Super Kings managed to reach a competitive total of 172/7 in their allotted 20 overs. Seamers Mohit Sharma and Mohammed Shami snared two scalps each for the Titans.
In reply, wicketkeeper batter, Wriddhiman Saha, scored 12 while Hardik got dismissed for just eight. Shubman Gill continued his purple patch as he mustered 42 off 38. David Miller got bowled for four off the bowling of Jadeja while Dasun Shanaka and Vijay Shankar scored 17 and 14 runs, respectively. Deepak Chahar, Maheesh Theekshana and Matheesha Pathirana also picked up two wickets each, as the Titans got bowled out for 157 on the final delivery of the match. The Titans await the winner of the eliminator clash between Lucknow Super Giants and Mumbai Indians to contest in Qualifier Two. For his crucial half-century right at the top of the order, Gaikwad won the Player of the Match award.
Meanwhile, here are some of the important stats and numbers from the Qualifier One clash between Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League 2023:
9 – Devon Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad have now shared the second-most 50-plus opening partnerships (nine) for CSK in the IPL. Faf du Plessis and Gaikwad had eight such stands. Michael Hussey and Murali Vijay top the list with 13 50-plus partnerships.
278 – Gaikwad has smashed 278 runs in just four innings at an average of 69.50 and with four half-centuries against GT.
3 – Conway has been dismissed by Mohammed Shami three times in as many innings with the former scoring just five runs off 12 deliveries against the pacer.
151 – Ravindra Jadeja reached the milestone of 150 wickets in the league.
2 – With 722 runs this season, Shubman Gill became only the second Indian player to score 700-plus runs in a single edition. Virat Kohli smashed 973 runs in the 2016 campaign.
53 – Deepak Chahar is now joint-third with Umesh Yadav for picking up 53 scalps in the powerplay. Chahar surpassed Zaheer Khan’s tally of 52. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Sandeep Sharma are in the first and second positions for snaring 61 and 55 scalps, respectively.
11 – Mohit Sharma is now tied with Yuzvendra Chahal and Harshal Patel in the second position for picking up 11 wickets in the death overs this season. Matheesha Pathirana is at the top for snaring 16 scalps.
10 – CSK qualified for the final for the tenth time in 14 seasons.
3 – Jadeja (2677 runs and 151 wickets) became the third player to achieve the double of 1000 runs and 150 wickets in the IPL. The other two are Dwayne Bravo (1560 runs and 183 scalps) and Sunil Narine (1046 runs and 163 wickets.
1 – CSK registered their first victory after losing all previous three games against GT.
4 – GT suffered just their fourth defeat in 18 games while chasing.