Fabulous centuries from captain Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan, coupled with a splendid spell of 3/31 from Mohit Sharma, powered Gujarat Titans to a 35-run win over Chennai Super Kings in Match 59 of the TATA IPL 2024 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Gill and Sudharsan put on an exhibition of delightful strokeplay as they added 210 for the first wicket, equaling the record for the highest opening stand in the IPL, as GT posted a daunting 231/3.GT’s fielding brilliance helped them set the tone for the defense as the home side picked up three wickets inside the first three overs. Mohit then bowled a crucial match-turning spell of 3/31, picking up the vital wickets of Daryl Mitchell (63 off 34), Moeen Ali (56 off 36) and Shivam Dube (21 off 13), to help GT restrict CSK to 196/8.Defending 232, GT got off to a perfect start courtesy of some fielding brilliance.
David Miller’s fantastic piece of fielding found Rachin Ravindra short of his ground via a direct hit as the openers scampered through for a quick single in the first over. Tewatia then pulled off a well-judged running catch at mid off, off Impact Player Sandeep Warrier to dismiss Ajinkya Rahane in the next over.
Rashid Khan then pulled off a smartly balanced catch at the deep square leg ropes to get the big wicket of the in-form CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad in the third over. Daryl Mitchell and Moeen Ali then got together, steadied the ship and shifted gears to bring up the 50-run stand off 28 balls.
Mitchell raced to his fifty off 27 balls, and then Moeen went berserk against Noor in the 11th over, smacking three consecutive sixes. With the partnership growing from strength to strength, Gill brought Mohit into the attack, and he provided the turnaround as he broke the 109-run stand with a clever knuckle ball as Mitchell mistimed his loft to long off. Moeen then brought up his fifty off 31 balls, but Mohit got the better of him in his next over, having him caught at long on for 56(36) via an excellent catch from Noor Ahmad. Ravindra Jadeja arrive and got into the groove quickly, hitting two fours in the same over. Shivam Dube and Jadeja then went after Kartik Tyagi, thumping two sixes and a four to bring the equation to 70 needed off 24. However, it was that man Mohit again who brought another crucial wicket, having the dangerous Dube caught at deep mid-wicket. He bowled a splendid 17th over and gave away just six runs. The pressure built, and it brought another two as Rashid Khan sent back Jadeja and Santner in the 18th over. With 62 required off 12, it was always going to be a bridge too far but MS Dhoni (26* off 11) enthralled the Ahmedabad crowd with three powerful sixes and a four as CSK finished with 196/8, falling 35 runs short.
Earlier, Chennai Super Kings captain Ruturaj Gaikwad won the toss and elected to field. Gujarat Titans got off to a solid start courtesy of the openers – Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan. Gill set the tone with a nicely placed four off Mitchell Santner to get off the mark in the first over. Two balls later, he unfurled a beautiful loft for a six. Sudharsan too unleashed one of the shots of the day as he lofted one over extra cover for a six off Shardul Thakur. The duo put on an exhibition of delightful strokes as Sudharsan brought up his fifty off 31 balls with a six off Ravindra Jadeja. Gill too brought up his fifty, off 25 balls, with a six as the pair stepped up one more gear and accumulated 23 runs off Simarjeet Singh in the 11th over. The duo surpassed their own record of stitching GT’s highest partnership for any wicket as they went past 147.
Sudharsan raced into the 90s while CSK had a chance to break the partnership when Gill mistimed his loft to long off but Tushar Deshpande dropped it and parried it over the ropes. Gill made it three sixes in that over as he smashed one flat over extra cover two balls later. The GT captain caught up with Sudharsan as both batters reached identical scores of 96 off 48 balls in the 16th over. Gill reached his ton first as he cracked a four through mid-wicket off Simarjeet and brought out an animated celebration. Sudharsan too brought up his hundred in style with a six in the same over as the partnership went past 200.
The pair equalled the best IPL opening partnership of 210 set by KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock in 2022, but they couldn’t cross it as Deshpande finally brought a breakthrough to send back Sudharsan, who mistimed his loft to extra cover, for 103(51). One brought two as Gill (104 off 55) mistimed his heave to deep mid-wicket off the last ball of the over. CSK made a comeback in the slog overs and finished well, giving away just 41/3 runs off the last five overs as GT reached 231/3.Ajinkya Rahane walked out to open the batting as an Impact Player, replacing Tushar Deshpande, while Sandeep Warrier replaced Sudharsan as the Impact Player for GT at the start of the second innings.
