IPL 2024: Gujarat Titans deal a blow to Chennai Super Kings

Ahmedabad, May 10

Captain Shubman Gill cracked a blistering century while B Sai Sudharsan hit his maiden IPL ton as Gujarat Titans kept themselves in the playoffs race with a 35-run win over Chennai Super Kings here today.

Sudharsan (103 off 51 balls) matched skipper Gill (104 off 55 balls) stroke for stroke as the two openers propelled GT to 231/3. The home team’s bowlers then restricted the defending champions to 196/8 despite fighting fifties from Daryl Mitchell (63) and Moeen Ali (56).

Sent in to bat, Gill and Sudharsan put up a six-hitting exhibition as they notched up a 210-run stand, the highest partnership for any wicket in the IPL this season. The two also equalled Quinton de Kock and KL Rahul’s highest-ever IPL opening partnership. While Gill’s remarkable innings was punctuated by nine fours and six maximums, Sudharsan’s maiden hundred was peppered with five boundaries and seven sixes.

In contrast, the CSK openers were back in the hut with just two runs on the board. Their best batter this season, skipper Rituraj Gaikwad (0), was also sent packing as Rashid Khan completed a brilliant catch on the boundary with the defending champions reeling at 10/3.

Mitchell and Moeen steadied the ship with some counterattacking play, stitching a 109-run partnership. The two targeted the Afghan spin duo of Rashid and Noor Ahmad.

While Moeen clobbered three sixes on the trot off Noor in the 11th over, Mitchel hit a boundary and a six in the next over off Rashid to bring down the equation to 113 runs off the last 48 balls.

But veteran Mohit Sharma (3/31) struck off his very first ball, dismissing Mitchell and then came back to take the scalps of Moeen and Shivam Dube (21).

Brief scores

GT: 231/3 in 20 overs (Shubman 104, Sudharsan 103; Deshpande 2/33) vs CSK: 196/8 in 20 overs (Mitchell 63, Moeen 56; Mohit 3/31, Rashid 2/38)

Thursday’s result

RCB: 241/7 in 20 overs (Kohli 92, Patidar 55, Green 46; Harshal 3/38, Kaverappa 2/36) vs PBKS: 181 all out in 17 overs (Rossouw 61, Shashank 37; Siraj 3/43, Swapnil 2/28)

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Kohli is the current Orange Cap holder with 634 runs from 12 matches, averaging 70.44 and at an impressive strike-rate of 153.51. “Virat is playing exceptionally well. The way Kohli batted last night — 90 in quick time, you need to use him as opener in T20 World Cup. He should open, evidenced by his last few IPL innings which have been outstanding,” Ganguly said. Ganguly said India have picked a balanced squad for the World Cup which has the wherewithal to land the trophy after a gap of 17 years. “This is an excellent squad. I think they have picked the best possible squad. Apart from batting depth, bowling looks excellent,” he said.

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