In the first match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, Gujarat Titans (GT) beat Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by five wickets at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Hardik Pandya won the toss and asked CSK to bat first. The decision turned out well as the team managed to restrict CSK to a respectable total after giving away too many runs upfront in the first 10 overs. Rashid Khan and Mohammad Shami were key for GT with the ball which helped them to stop CSK to just 178/7.
In the chase, Shubman Gill (63) was the batter who single handedly took the game away from the Chennai-based team. The right handed batter smashed an impressive half century at a strike rate of 175 which included six fours and three sixes. With him, Wriddhiman Saha (25), Sai Sudharsan (22) and Vijay Shankar (27) also provided some contributions in the middle overs. However it was Rashid Khan (10) and Rahul Tewatia (15) who turned the game into their side when things were looking difficult towards the end of the innings. Khan scored all important 10 runs which included a six and a four. Tewatia, on the other hand, also hammered runs in the final over to finish the game with two points.
In the first innings, Ruturaj Gaikwad (92) was the lone batter who stood tall and delivered a handsome and massive half century. The right-handed opener smashed nine fours and four sixes at the strike rate of 184. None of the other batter could score enough runs to take CSK over 200 run-mark, which was looking possible at the start of the inning. MS Dhoni (14), in the end, scored few valuable runs to take CSK to a respectable position.
While bowling in the first innings, two wickets each were grabbed by Mohammad Shami, Rashid Khan and Alzarri Joseph. Debutant Joshua Little also managed to claim a wicket.
For CSK, Rajvardhan Hangargekar picked three wickets in his quota of four wickets. One wicket each was taken by impact player Tushar Despande and Ravindra Jadeja.
Rashid Khan was adjudged Man of the Match for his all round performance. With this win, the defending champions commenced their IPL 2023 journey on a winning note.
Scorecard:
Chennai Super Kings: 178/7, Overs 20, Ruturaj Gaikwad 92, Rashid Khan 2/26
Gujarat Titans: 182/5, Overs 19.2, Shubman Gill 63, Rajvardhan Hangargekar 3/36