Shubman Gill and Sai Sudarshan scored a century each and added the joint-best opening partnership in IPL history (210) to keep Gujarat Titans just about alive in the IPL 2024. Shubman Gill and B Sai Sudarshan ripped up the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) attack and the record books to keep Gujarat Titans’ (GT’s) playoff hopes just alive. The result, however, punctured CSK’s chances and left them facing a tricky route to the playoffs.
GT captain Shubman Gill spent some time off the field in their successful defence of 231 because of cramps. But he had already handsomely contributed with the bat in a 210-run partnership with Sai Sudarshan – the joint-highest opening stand in the history of the IPL. Along the way, Shubman Gill and Sudarshan pushed the IPL century count past 100.
Pitch and Toss
It’s got a good covering of grass and it feels solid under the hand. I am looking at a high-scoring game. Two teams are going to come and push that 200-run mark. I can’t see the pitch changing. There might be a little bit of swing early on. You got two bowlers on either side that can swing. Good outfield, I am looking at a high-scoring game, reads Chris Morris.
CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad won the toss and chose to bowl making one change in the Playing XI bringing in Rachin Ravindra for Richard Gleeson. Gujarat Titans skipper Shubman Gill batting first made 2 changes in the squad bringing in Matthew Wade for Wriddhiman Saha and Kartik Tyagi for Joshua Little.
Shubman Gill, Sai Sudarshan make breezy start in the Powerplay
Shubman Gill and Sai Sudarshan made a busy start after the former lost the toss. Gill got a four and a six off Mitchell Santner in the opening over while Sai Sudarshan smashed a six each off Shardul Thakur and Tushar Deshpande. Gill matched his opening partner’s tally of sixes in the final over of the PowerPlay, tonking one off Simarjeet Singh. The pair added its third 50-plus opening stand in as many innings opening together in this year’s IPL. This was GT’s second-best PowerPlay score of the season.
Gill and Sudarshan are no Travishek. They are more orthodox top-order batters. But on a bouncy, red-soil Ahmedabad pitch on Friday, they showed that they can be just as destructive with their hitting.
It was Gill who made the early running when he took left-arm finger spinner Mitchell Santner for a four and a six in a 14-run opening over. Then, in the final over of the powerplay, Gill played what was arguably the shot of the day. When Simarjeet Singh bowled a blameless back-of-a-length delivery on off, Gill used his gifts to make it look like a bad ball and imperiously swatted it over mid-on for six.
Shubman Gill, Sai Sudarshan smash away in the middle overs
Some sloppy fielding and the two openers turbo-charged GT’s scoring rate even further through the middle-overs. Sai Sudarshan started off by going after Jadeja in a 15-run 9th over while both the batters took fours off Daryl Mitchell to take their team to 107/0 at the halfway stage. The duo then hit the next gear against Simarjeet, carting him for three sixes and four in a 23-run over.
Sai Sudarshan used his feet against both the spinners and Mitchell to keep the boundaries flowing, soon becoming the quickest Indian batter to 1000 IPL runs (25 innings). Shubman Gill made a mockery of Mitchell’s attempts at variations – with lengths and pace – hitting him for three sixes in an over. Except in the seventh over from Mitchell, the two GT batters hit at least one four in all the overs in this phase – with 88 runs coming in fours and sixes.
Sudarshan, becalmed in the early exchanges, then caught fire, whacking Ravindra Jadeja for 21 off seven balls at a strike rate of 300. The presence of the spin-hitting Sudarshan meant Jadeja could not bowl more than two overs on the night. Ruturaj Gaikwad turned to Daryl Mitchell’s cutters, but he was dispatched for 4-0-52-0.
Tushar Deshpande, Shardul Thakur limit damage at the death as GT posted 231 for 3 after 20 overs
Sudarshan accelerated so quickly that he and his captain had identical scores at the end of the 16th over: 96 off 48 balls. Shubman Gill was the first to bring up his hundred with a four, and four balls later, Sudarshan joined him there with a six.
In the next over, however, Tushar Deshpande had both Sudarshan and Shubman Gill holing out in the space of five balls. Deshpande could have cut short Shubman Gill’s innings on 72 had he not dropped him at the long-off boundary – he ended up parrying it onto the rope for six. But he came back strong at the death with his defensive skills on show, with Shardul Thakur for company.
They kept hiding the ball away from the swinging arcs of the GT batters and allowed them to score only 41 runs off the last five overs. Only one boundary was scored off the last three overs, but the chase was always going to be a tall order for CSK.
Shubman Gill swatted away a full toss from Simarjeet to bring up a 50-ball century – which was also the 100th 100 in IPL. Sai Sudarshan followed suit with a 50-ball century of his own – his first in the IPL – with a slog sweep just over Ravindra Jadeja at fine leg off Simarjeet. Sudarshan then fell trying to slog more, leaving after having stitched the joint-best opening stand in IPL history (210). Gill fell in the same over, and GT suffered an underwhelming finish to their innings. It still took them to 231/3.
Horror start to tall chase by CSK in the Powerplay
In a fantastic start for the hosts, a direct-hit from David Miller sent Rachin Ravindra packing in the opening over. In the second over, Ajinkya Rahane trudged back after a leading edge off his bat was well-pouched by Rahul Tewatia at mid-off. An even bigger dent came in the same phase when Ruturaj Gaikwad was dismissed for a duck, courtesy an exceptional catch right at the boundary line by Rashid Khan. Moeen Ali and Daryl Mitchell chanced their arms in the second half to revive the chase from 10/3.
Mitchell, Moeen turn up the tempo for CSK in the middle overs.
Daryl Mitchell then gave the chase a leg-up by repeatedly pumping the ball over the top. He even went after GT’s ace spinner Rashid Khan, taking him for 18 off seven balls. At the other end, Moeen struggled to pick Rashid’s variations but he lined up Noor Ahmad, the left-arm wrist spinner, and walloped him for three successive sixes to start the 11th over.
Moeen and Mitchell dragged CSK back into the game by matching Gill and Sai Sudarshan’s middle-overs tally for fours and sixes. Right after getting CSK through their second-slowest PowerPlay this season, the fourth-wicket pair began repair work by hitting a six each off Sandeep Warrier in the seventh over. Kartik Tyagi, playing in his first game of the season, was targeted all through his four overs.
Noor Ahmad and Rashid Khan bowled two good first overs for a collective tally of 14 runs before Moeen smashed three successive sixes off Noor and Mitchell went after Rashid. Mitchell then fell to a slower one from Mohit Sharma for a whirlwind 34-ball 63 that put CSK back in the hunt. Mohit took out Moeen too, for a 36-ball 56. Ravindra Jadeja hit two successive fours in the same Mohit over, leaving CSK to chase 89 off the last 30 balls.
MS Dhoni throws his bat around but CSK fall well short as Mohit Sharma closes it out for GT
When GT and CSK last met at this venue, in a three-day IPL final last season, Mohit couldn’t get the job done. On Friday, his execution was so good that CSK fell well short, despite MS Dhoni’s cameo at the end.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Ruturaj Gaikwad the loosing skipper said :
“Our fielding let us down, we gave away 10-15 runs extra I think, execution wise we were good, but they played some really good shots. You can’t control batters when they playing so well and going good. It’s real quick, we got to fly quick and we have a tough game in Chennai, so we got to turn up well there as well,”
Shubman Gill the winning skipper and Player of the Match for his century said :
“Yeah just a cramp, nothing else (reason for being off the field). When you’ve got 100k people supporting you, becomes easier. Just the freeness of it. When we were batting out there, we didn’t have any targets in mind. Were just maximizing the opportunities in front of us. We have a good camaraderie between us. Even last year we batted a lot together,”
“Lot of fun batting with him. In terms of numbers, definitely it is (best opening partnership for GT). Mohit bhai has done this for us the last couple of years. Even last year, his bowling was a revelation. Even this year, two three bad games can happen to anyone. At one point we thought 250 was there for the taking. In the last 2-3 overs they bowled well also. Just had a feeling we were 10-15 short – not in terms of the match but in terms of the NRR going forward,” he added.
Road ahead for CSK & GT
Fairly comfortable win for the hosts here in Ahmedabad in front of over 90000 people. Hundreds from Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan took them to 231 after being put into bat earlier in the evening. Should’ve probably got a few more in the final few overs, but it didn’t matter in the end. CSK got off to a terrible start in the chase, losing three wickets in the first three overs.
It took an excellent partnership between Mitchell and Moeen – CSK’s highest of the season – to keep them in the hunt, but a cracking spell from Mohit Sharma sealed the deal for GT. This result keeps them alive, and also gives a boost to a few other teams in the race for the playoffs.
As many as eight teams are still in the hunt for the playoffs as we go into the last two rounds of the league stages. For CSK, the road has become trickier as they now take on Rajasthan Royals before finishing against RCB who have won four in a row. Gujarat Titans, on the other hand, have no option but to win their remaining games while hoping for the best.
Next up, CSK face a super-quick turnaround: they will meet Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Sunday afternoon at Chepauk. They will then run into a resurgent Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in their last league fixture, in Bengaluru, on May 18. The defeat to GT means their qualification for the playoffs might come down to net run-rates – CSK, though, still have the best NRR among the three teams with 12 points – and one more defeat could leave the defending champions teetering on the brink.
CSK have just a day’s break when they will head home to then host Rajasthan Royals in the afternoon game on Sunday. GT will stay at home and welcome KKR a day later on Monday.