Captain Shubman Gill and B. Sai Sudharsan unleashed an outstanding assault on Chennai Super Kings bowling attack by slamming centuries each to power Gujarat Titans to a comfortable 35-run win over Chennai Super Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium here on Friday.
Pushed into batting first on a placid pitch, Gill hit nine fours and six maximums at a strike rate of 189.09 to hit 104, his fourth IPL hundred in Ahmedabad. On the other hand, Sudarshan, opening the batting after Wriddhiman Saha was ruled out due to a niggle, slammed five fours and seven sixes at a strike rate of 201.96 to make 103, his maiden IPL century.
Gill and Sudarshan had a 210-run opening partnership, which equals the record for the highest opening stand held by Quinton de Kock and K.L. Rahul, who added exactly 210 runs for the first wicket against Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2022.
After the duo fell, Gujarat Titans managed just one boundary in the last three overs as CSK kept them below 250, which looked like a sure-shot possibility at one point. Only Tushar Deshpande was amongst the wicket-takers for CSK with his 2-33, as the defending champions dropped catches, and lacked penetration and discipline in bowling.
In reply, CSK lost three wickets in the first three overs of the chase, which set them back in a tall chase. Despite a 109-run stand between Daryl Mitchell (63) and Moeen Ali (56), CSK ended up reaching 196/8 in their 20 overs. Mohit Sharma was excellent with his variations to pick 3-31 while Rashid Khan ended a three-game wicketless run to take 2-38 for GT.
The win sees GT jump from the bottom place to eighth position. CSK, meanwhile, remain in fourth place with 12 points, with their NRR taking a hit as it now stands at 0.49. Though they are ahead of Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants on points and NRR, CSK’s defeat gives them and Royal Challengers Bengaluru hope to be alive in the race to playoffs.
Gill made his intentions clear from the opening over by square-driving and lofting Mitchell Santner for four and six respectively in the opening over. Sudharsan greeted Shardul Thakur with a lofted six, before swiping Tushar Deshpande for another maximum. The duo then hit a couple more boundaries as they added 58 runs in the Power-play.
Sudarshan overcame a slow start, but he pulled and slog-swept off Ravindra Jadeja to get his fifty in 32 balls. On the way, he also became the fastest Indian batter to get 1000 IPL runs in 25 innings, going past Sachin Tendulkar and Ruturaj Gaikwad, who reached the landmark in 31 innings.
Gill got his fifty in just 25 balls by heaving Simarjeet Singh for a six and then slammed a strong bottom-handed four straight past the pacer for four more in a 23-run 11th over, where Sudarshan also carted him for consecutive sixes.
Such was the effect of the carnage from Gill and Sudarshan that CSK had to bring in Daryl Mitchell to bowl. Much to his and CSK’s agony, Gill was dropped by long-off on 72, who parried the ball over the boundary for six in the 14th over.
From there, some jaw-dropping stroke play saw Gill get to his hundred off 50 balls with a four past square-leg off Simarjeet. In the same over, Sudharsan got his century off 50 balls by pulling past long leg for six. The centuries hut by Gill and Sudarshan are also IPL’s 100th and 101st hundreds.
The scintillating show came to an end when the duo holed out in the span of five balls to Deshpande. After that, CSK kept GT quiet in the remainder of the death overs to give away just 41 runs off the last five overs.
CSK’s chase had a less-than-ideal start as David Miller nailed a direct hit to run out Rachin Ravindra in the opening over. Sandeep Warrier, coming in as an Impact Player for B Sai Sudharsan, drew a leading edge from Ajinkya Rahane, which was taken by mid-off.
When Ruturaj Gaikwad fell for a duck after Rashid Khan tossed up the ball in the air, found his balance, and then took the catch with his outstretched right hand at deep square leg, CSK were left in dire trouble at 10/3.
Mitchell began by taking Warrier for 20 runs off nine balls, including two sixes and a four. He then took three fours off Kartik Tyagi in the eighth over. From the other end, Moeen gave him great support by taking boundaries off Umesh Yadav, Warrier and Tyagi.
After Mitchell reached his fifty, Moeen smacked Noor Ahmad for three successive sixes. Mitchell then took Rashid for a four and six but fell for 63 off 34 balls after miscuing a lofted shot to long-off against Mohit.
In his next over, Mohit had Moeen holing out in the deep for 56 to put a dent in CSK’s chase. Shivam Dube and Ravindra Jadeja hit five boundaries between themselves before the duo got out to Mohit and Rashid in quick succession. Despite MS Dhoni enthralling the crowd with three sixes and a four, CSK fell short of a win on a day when Gill and Sudharsan shined brightest under the Ahmedabad sky.
Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 231/3 in 20 overs (Shubman Gill 104, B. Sai Sudarshan 103; Tushar Deshpande 2-33) beat Chennai Super Kings 196/8 in 20 overs (Daryl Mitchell 63, Moeen Ali 56; Mohit Sharma 3-31, Rashid Khan 2-38) by 35 runs.
