Chennai Super Kings batters dazzled before the bowlers rioted to suffocate Gujarat Titans in a comprehensive 63-run win in their second IPL match on Tuesday. Ruturaj Gaikwad’s team have covered all the bases and it was evident when Rachin Ravindra prepared a platform with 20-ball-46, allowing Shivam Dube to unlock his beast mode with a 23-ball-51. In between, Gaikwad himself maintained the balance at 36-ball-46 as Chennai’s 206 for 6 was a huge total by any measure. Titans could only manage 143/8 in reply as Chahar (2/28 in 4 overs), Mustafizur Rahman (2/30 in 4 overs), Tushar Deshpande (2/21) and Matheesha Pathirana (1/29 in 4 overs) one by one the noose of Titan’s battle unit was tightened.
If Gujarat wanted to make it a match, Shubman Gill had to shoot, but his poor shot selection from a Deepak Chahar delivery, which was not as short as expected for a pull shot, ensured his downfall.
Once Shubman was gone, Gujarat didn’t even have a chance with the likes of Wriddhiman Saha (21 off 17 balls) and B Sai Sudharsan (37, 31 balls), players, who on most days are duo drivers and play second fiddle. to perfection.
As was the case, finishers like David Miller (21) and Rahul Tewatia (1) didn’t have enough on the board to go for the unlikely chase and the inevitable happened. Rachin’s slam-bang approach and Dube’s final flourish took CSK past the 200-run mark.
Rachin made full use of Powerplay, racing to 46 off 20 balls, while Dube, a nightmare for spinners, then used his long handles to hit 51 balls in just 23 deliveries to increase the challenge of GT batters manifold. Dube’s innings included no fewer than five sixes. In between, skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad’s chiseled 46 off 36 balls also made a significant contribution to another impactful batting performance on a hard spring track on offer. Not to forget CSK’s Sameer Rizvi (14 off 6 balls), who smashed Rashid Khan (2/49 in 4 overs) for two sixes on the occasion of a memorable IPL debut.
It was Rachin, now a darling of the CSK fans, who thrilled everyone with his daring strokeplay. While he missed out on another half-century, but the team’s ‘spiritual skipper’ Mahendra Singh Dhoni would be all smiles knowing that his choice was perfect to the T. The three sixes – a move behind the square and one over long on off the normally loose Umesh Yadav and one-time Azmatullah Omarzai were met with such disdain that it put Gujarat Titans in a certain spot. There were some crisp cover drives as Ravindra let his skipper Gaikwad breathe a little easier at the other end.
Finally, it was GT’s ‘Go-To’ bowler Rashid, who drew first blood, but more thanks to some clever work from Wriddhiman Saha, who removed the bails in a flash after the Black Caps opener lost his balance and came out of his crease in an attempt to whip up the delivery.
Saha’s next stumping was much easier when Sai Kishore cut the length and pulled him out of his crease for an indiscreet box. The ball deviated sufficiently and the goalkeeper merely completed a formality.
Gaikwad was not as fluent as Ravindra in the beginning, but in his five boundaries and a six he oozed class before becoming Saha’s third victim with the gloves as he tried to pull Spencer Johnson, eventually getting one behind the stumps.
Then it was Dube, who simply dropped his front foot and Sai Kishore smashed two monstrous sixes and also sent Johnson’s delivery soaring. Dube had the composed Daryl Mitchell for company, who also scored with an unbeaten 20-ball 24 in a 57-run stand for the fourth wicket in 5.5 overs.
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