Can MS Dhoni win the title one last time, or will we see Hardik Pandya lift the trophy for the 2nd time in a row?
Chennai Super Kings and put the Gujarat Titans into bat, and GT responded well and finished at 214/4 in their allotted 20 overs! Thanks to a blistering knock by B Sai Sudharsan at the Narendra Modi Stadium. Chennai Super Kings have a stiff task ahead of them with Rashid, Noor, Shami and Mohit in the mix. CSK will need something special from here to get over the line. Can MS Dhoni win the title one last time, or will we see Hardik Pandya lift the trophy for the 2nd time in a row? We’ll find out soon, meanwhile let’s have a look at the talking points in the first innings.
Earlier in the day, MS Dhoni won the toss and invited Gujarat Titans for a bat seeing the overhead conditions and rain forecast. Deepak Chahar started with the new ball and bowled brilliantly in the first over. On the other hand, GT openers Shubman Gill and Wriddhiman Saha got the life pretty early in their innings. While Chahar dropped Gill at backward square leg in the second over, Chahar also spilt Saha’s catch off his own bowling a few overs later. Shubman played a few glorious shots on either side of these dropped opportunities and thrashed Tushar Deshpande and Maheesh Theekshana for boundaries. GT finished the Powerplay with a scoreline of 62/0.
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Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni combined brilliantly as the stylish batter Gill (39 off 20) was drawn forward by a beautifully disguised delivery and was stumped in the seventh over by a lightning-quick MSD. Saha kept GT’s scoreboard ticking alongside the youngster B Sai Sudharsan, who started slowly but quickly picked up the scoring rate. Together they added 64 runs for the second wicket and Saha amassed his 2nd fifty this season. Chahar took care of Saha (54 off 39) in his final over and once Saha’s departure was an onslaught.
Sudharsan smashed the CSK bowlers left, right and centre and didn’t spare any of them. He blistered to 96 off 47 deliveries and was out lbw in the final over delivered by another impressive youngster Matheesha Pathirana. CSK were off colour on the field and allowed a few extra runs, and the bowling was affected by it. Jadeja was brilliant in the first three overs but he too like others was expensive at the end. Deshpande was the most expensive one with the figures of 4-0-56-0. This match is poised to go down to the wire and it will be interesting to see who gets over the line and lifts the trophy.
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