Gujarat Titans captain, Shubman Gill, fellow opener Sai Sudharsan and the third member of the ‘big three’, Jos Buttler led their side to an emphatic 89-run victory against the hapless Chennai Super Kings in their Tata IPL match at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Thursday. Right hander Gill stroked seven fours and three sixes in his 64 from 37 balls with left hander Sudharsan adding seven fours and four maximums in his 84 from 53 balls as the home side racked up a
daunting 229-4 before dismissing the desperate Super Kings for just 140 in 13.4 overs. Former England captain, Buttler, outdid his top three colleagues with a strike rate of 211 with a devastating 57* from 27 balls (5×4, 4×6) as the home side grabbed control of the match in the early stages. Australian left arm seamer, Spencer Johnson, leaked 47 from his four overs but it was another depressing night for the Super Kings’ leading wicket taker, Anshul Kamboj, who was belted for 56. The men
in yellow needed a fast start from their big guns but lost the biggest – Sanju Samson – to the first ball of the run-chase when he edged Mohammad Siraj to ‘keeper Buttler and Siraj (3-0-26-3) added two more quick wickets to dismantle any hopes of a fightback. It was do-or-die for Chennai thereafter needing to win to have any chance of reaching the play-offs but it resulted in a series of brief blows and quick demises with Dewald Brevis representing their hopeless situation with
eight from 10 balls before slicing a catch to cover off Rashid Khan who continued his rampant return to form with 3-18 in three overs. Kagiso Rabada (3.4-0-32-3) became the third Gujarat bowler to claim three wickets when he knocked over the tail to finish the game with a whopping 7.2 overs to spare despite Shivam Dube’s defiant 47 from just 17 balls with a belligerent quartet of fours and sixes. The Titans had already qualified for the play-offs and were pushing for a top-two
finish while victory for the Super Kings would have given them the slimmest of mathematical chances. They are now eliminated while Gujarat wait on the result of Sunrisers Hyderabad final match to see who finishes in the top two alongside defending champions, Royal Challengers Bengaluru. GUJARAT TITANS: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (captain), Jos Buttler (wkt), Nishant Sindhu, Washington Sundar, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Kagiso Rabada, Arshad Khan, Mohammed Siraj Impact subs: Prasidh Krishna, Anuj Rawat, Glenn Phillips, Kulwant Khejroliya, Kumar Kushagra CHENNAI SUPER
KINGS: Sanju Samson (wkt), Ruturaj Gaikwad (captain), Urvil Patel, Dewald Brevis, Shivam Dube, Matthew Short, Anshul Kamboj, Noor Ahmad, Spencer Johnson, Mukesh Choudhary, Gurjapneet Singh Impact subs: Kartik Sharma, Macneil Noronha, Sarfaraz Khan, Kuldip Yadav, Aman Khan
Gujarat Titans, Chennai Super Kings, Jos Buttler, Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, IPL