Shubman Gill‘s half-century, plus Rashid Khan and Rahul Tewatia’s show in the death overs helped Gujarat Titans win the opener of the Indian Premier League (IPL) by five wickets. Hardik Pandya and co. successfully chased down the 179-run target against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Friday (March 31) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Wriddhiman Saha and Shubman Gill got Gujarat Titans off to a great start by stitching a 37-run stand. But Rajvardhan Hangargekar drew the first blood by dismissing Saha in the fourth over.
But Gujarat’s runs kept coming due to Shubman Gill. After Saha’s dismissal, Sai Sudharsan-the Impact Player entered. He came in the place of Kane Williamson who hurt his knee while attempting a catch at the boundary. Sudarshan’s wicket fell in the 10th over off Hangargekar’s delivery. He departed after contributing 22 runs from 17 balls with three fours. Gujarat skipper Hardik Pandya followed Sudarshan to the dressing room after scoring just eight runs.
Gill scored his half-century; it was his fifth for the Titans and 15th overall in IPL. His 36-ball 63 included six boundaries and three sixes and he batted at a brilliant strike rate of 175.
Check Twitter’s reactions to Shubman Gill and Rashid Khan’s knocks
Tushar Deshpande on the last ball of the 17th over, delivered it over the stumps and Gill mistimed the shot, and Ruturaj Gaikwad from the deep didn’t do any mistake while taking the simple catch.
That was the turning point of the match. CSK bowlers were trying hard to put a break on the run flow and soon Hangargekar sent Vijay Shankar into packing as well.
Then the Gujarat fans enjoyed the Rashid Khan show. When it looked that CSK had got the upper hand in the death overs, Rashid ruined it with his exploits.
He slammed a six off the first ball he faced and followed it by a boundary in the penultimate over. Then Rahul Tewatia on the first ball of the final over, send the ball over the boundary, plus another single saw Gujarat upsetting the four-time champions by five wickets.
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