Chennai Super Kings were clinical with both bat and ball as they completely outplayed Gujarat Titans to register their second win on the trot in IPL 2024. Packed with powerful performances right through with the bat, their bowlers mirrored the collective effort to ensure that Gujarat were never allowed to squeeze their way back in the game, and condemned them to a 63-run loss.

CSK found someone to keep them going right through the innings. Through the powerplay this role was taken up by Rachin Ravindra who blitzed his way to 47 in a 62-run opening stand with Ruturaj Gaikwad. Ravindra first went after Umesh Yadav’s missed lengths hitting him for a six and a four off consecutive deliveries. In the following over, he meted out similar treatment to Azmatullah Omarzai. When Yadav opted for slightly shorter lengths next time around, he was still not spared as Ravindra picked up another six and a four. The boundary flow didn’t stop as Omarzai erred similarly next up to be put away promptly. Ravindra’s blitzkrieg came to an unfortunate end when he was out stumped after the ball deflected off his body and close to the wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha.

Ajinkya Rahane next up could not keep up with the tone set by Ravindra as he was out stumped after a run-a-ball 12. But Gaikwad had found his groove by now and kept the momentum up with a flurry of boundaries. He raced away to 46 but just as he was looking good for more, Spencer Johnson found an edge from a delivery angled across. But by now, the next of CSK’s hitters – and the one who had maximum impact – was ready.

Shivam Dube played his role to a tee as he hit the first two balls he faced – against the favourable match-up of Sai Kishore’s left-arm spin – for sixes. It set him up beautifully for the rest of the innings as he kept upping the ante. Rashid Khan was tonked for a six as well before Johnson was hit for a four and a pulled six as the short ball ploy went for a toss. He brought up his fifty off just 22 balls and looked set for a bigger finish heading into the last couple of overs.

Rashid Khan got the better of Dube with a googly early in the 19th over raising Gujarat’s hopes of applying the brakes. However, debutant Sameer Rizvi had other ideas. He hit his first ball in IPL for a six as he slog-swept Rashid and followed it up with a lofted six over long off making sure that it turned into a 15-run over. But Mohit Sharma’s final over went for only eight with Rizvi holing out to long on even as CSK finished with a total over 200, which eventually proved to be more than enough.

Gujarat were dependent on getting a good start in the powerplay to pose a challenge in the chase. Both Shubman Gill and Wriddhiman Saha made their intentions clear with Gill even lofting his first ball for a six but neither was able to make it continue for long. Deepak Chahar had Gill lbw with a skidding delivery while Saha holed out to to the deep giving Chahar his second wicket. At 34/2, Gujarat were already put on the backfoot.

With the tone set, none of Gujarat’s middle-order batters could do enough to reverse the pressure back. It didn’t help that CSK held onto sharp chances. Veterans MS Dhoni and Ajinkya Rahane each held onto sharp chances while Rachin Ravindra dropped one but held onto three more ensuring that the collective control was never let up right till the end.

What next?

Chennai play their first ‘away’ game of the season as they travel to Vizag, the temporary ‘home’ for Delhi Capitals this season. On the same day – Sunday, March 31 – Gujarat Titans will go back home to take on Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Brief Scores:
Chennai Super Kings 206/6 in 20 overs (Shivam Dube 51, Rachin Ravindra 46, Ruturaj Gaikwad 46, Daryl Mitchell 24*; Rashid Khan 2-49, Sai Kishore1-28, Spencer Johnson 1-35, Mohit Sharma 1-36) beat  Gujarat Titans 143/8 in 20 overs (Wriddhiman Saha 21, Sai Sudharsan 37, David Miller 21; Deepak Chahar 2-28,  Mustafizur Rahman 2-30,  Tushar Deshpande 2-21, Daeyl Mitchell 1-18, Matheesha Pathirana 1-29) by 63 runs