Titans defeats Super Kings by five wickets in tournament opener

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat Titans began its Indian Premier League title defence in style with a thrilling five-wicket victory over Chennai Super Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium here on Friday.

Opting to bowl first, the Hardik Pandya-led Gujarat restricted Chennai to 178 for seven on a good batting surface, despite opener Ruturaj Gaikwad’s scintillating 92 (50 balls, 4 fours, 9 sixes). Chasing 179 to open its account, Titans crossed the finish line in the final over, thanks to opening batter Shubman Gill’s 36-ball 63 (6 fours, 3 sixes).

Rahul Tewatia (15 not out off 14 balls, 1 four, 1 six) and Rashid Khan (10 not out off 3 balls, 1 four, 1 six) were in the middle when GT achieved the target. Gujarat was in control for most parts of the chase, but was in a spot of bother at the end of the 17th over, when it needed 30 runs off the last three overs.

Vijay Shankar (27), B Sai Sudharsan (22), who replaced the injured Kane Williamson, and Wriddhiman Saha (25) made meaningful contributions. Gill and Sudharsan set the base with a 53-run partnership for the second wicket. CSK’s decision to introduce Tushar Deshpande – in place of Ambati Rayudu – as ‘Impact Player’ at the half-way stage did not work as the pacer conceded 51 runs off just 3.2 overs. In the first essay, Ruturaj regaled the near capacity crowd with his sublime stroke-making.

It was a display of effortless hitting from Ruturaj, who relied on his lofted drives over extra cover and crisp pull shots to smash as many as nine sixes. No.3 Moeen Ali (23 off 17 balls, 4 fours, 1 six) was the only CSK batter besides Ruturaj to put pressure on GT while skipper MS Dhoni (14 not out off 7 balls, 1 four, 1 six) produced a cameo after walking out at No.8. Ruturaj pulled IPL debutant Joshua Little on his very first ball – in the fourth over of the match – for a maximum to set the tone for his innings. That over went for 15 runs and with Mohammed Shami conceding 17 runs in the following over, CSK got the momentum it was looking for after it was invited to bat.

Titans trump card Rashid (2/26) was introduced in the powerplay and as he often does, he got the wicket that his team needed – Ali was caught behind. Rashid’s second over saw him get rid of Ben Stokes (7), who was also caught by wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha, leaving CSK at 70 for three. The fall of wickets did not force Ruturaj to change his game as he kept finding the boundary at will. He welcomed express pacer Alzarri Joseph into the attack by smashing him for three sixes in the eighth over. Shivam Dube (19 off 18 balls, 1 six) struggled to find the big hits and that put pressure on Ruturaj, who was caught in the deep in the 17th over and missed out on a hundred.

The last five overs yielded 45 runs for CSK.

BRIEF SCORES: Chennai Super Kings 178/7 in 20 overs (Ruturaj 92, Rashid 2/26, M Shami 2/29, A Joseph 2/33) lost to Gujarat Titans 182/5 in 19.2 overs (S Gill 63, R Hangargekar 3/36)