Chennai Super Kings have qualified for the IPL 2023 Finals by defeating Gujarat Titans in the Qualifier 1 tonight at the MA Chidambaram stadium, thanks to a brilliant performance by the entire team. Gujarat Titans won the toss and opted to bowl first. Coming in to bat first, openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway were simply phenomenal.
They put up a 100+ runs partnership and gave CSK just the start they needed. However, after their departure, the middle order batters were not able to maintain the same tempo and thus they could only muster a mere total of 172 runs. This seemed to be an easy target at first for Gujarat Titans but the CSK bowlers pulled off the unthinkable.
Shubman Gill, who has been in incredible form all through IPL 2023 and who scored a sensational century in the last match against RCB to eliminate them from the competition, continued his form by scoring 42 runs. His big wicket was taken by Deepak Chahar.
Sadly, apart from him, none of the other GT batters were able to perform well and they were all out by 157 runs. Thus, CSK qualified for the finals with ease. Chennai Super Kings star Ruturaj Gaikwad who was their main man with the bat, also took a phenomenal catch in the second innings to dismiss Vijay Shankar.
Vijay Shankar hit a shot towards the long on against Matheesa Pathirana. Ruturaj Gaikwad took a running catch mid air right before the ball hit the ground. It was stunning and he himself was very overwhelmed after taking it.
The umpires had to double check the catch to give the green signal. It turned out that Gaikwad’s catch was simply flawless. Gujarat Titans will noe play against the winner of Eliminator (between MI and LSG) in Qualifier 2. The winner of that match will then take on CSK in the final.