Once again, and in only their second season, Gujarat Titans have topped the league stage of the Indian Premier League. The defending champions therefore will face off with the second-placed team, Chennai Super Kings, in the first Qualifier.
The winner of which will go straight through to the Final, while the losing side will have one more opportunity when they face the winner of the Eliminator between Lucknow Super Giants and Mumbai Indians.
Interestingly, Gujarat are 3-0 against the Super Kings in the IPL, with all victories coming in chases completed in the final over. Another twist will be that the Qualifier will be played in Chennai.
Chennai’s strength has been their opening partnership between Devon Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad. Mohammad Shami’s masterful powerplay performances will be make things trickier for the CSK openers. Rashid Khan has been on top form this season, but he will have to continue that to combat the long batting lineup that CSK possess.
In a similar sense, Chennai’s own powerplay destroyer in Deepak Chahar will have an important role to play against Gujarat’s own effective opening partnership between Shubman Gill and Wriddhiman Saha.
Who have been the key performers for Gujarat Titans in IPL 2023?
Unsurprisingly, Rashid has been a top performer for the Titans so far in this year’s IPL. Alongside him, Shami has been exceptional, particularly in the powerplay. Both have taken 24 wickets apiece, currently leading the race for the Purple Cap between them.
Rashid’s Afghanistan teammate Noor Ahmad has also become an integral part of the side, taking 13 wickets in ten matches with an economy of a shade under eight. Mohit Sharma, an IPL veteran who has not played a huge part in recent tournaments, has been somewhat of a surprise success for Gujarat this season. He has bowled well at the death in particular and has helped himself to 17 wickets in 11 matches, despite often not fulfilling his four over quota.
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| Rashid's teenage Afghanistan teammate Noor Ahmad has become an integral part of the Titans' table-topping side in IPL 2023 [CREDIT: IPLT20] |
Batting-wise, the classy Gill has led the way. He has scored more than double anyone else in the Titans team with a huge 680 runs, putting him second behind RCB’s Faf du Plessis. Gill will have a strong chance of claiming the Orange Cap, given that he is only 50 behind du Plessis, whose side have already been eliminated, along with his closest competitors in Virat Kohli and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Meanwhile, Sai Sudharsan has scored 223 runs in six innings but has failed to truly nail down a spot. The same could be said for Vijay Shankar, who has mustered 287 runs in nine innings at a strike rate north of 160.
David Miller hasn’t been quite as effective as last year, but has still chipped in with important runs. Captain Hardik Pandya is in a similar boat, having often struggled for fluency. There have also been recent signs that Saha is looking back to somewhere near his best at the top of the order.
Who have been the key performers for Chennai Super Kings?
The strong opening partnership between Devon Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad has been a big pillar of success for Chennai this season. Each have passed 500 runs for the season and have typically laid ideal foundations for what is a deep and dangerous batting lineup. Shivam Dube has put his strong six-hitting ability to good use, striking 33 maximums and 385 runs.
A revelation for the Super Kings has been another IPL veteran, Ajinkya Rahane. The India Test batter has always been a tremendous player but his involvement in the IPL fell off slightly in the past couple of years, partly due to his typically more risk-averse style and slower scoring rate. This season, however, Rahane has shown a completely different intent and has struck 282 runs in nine innings at what is a scarcely believable strike rate of 169.9.
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| Ajinkya Rahane has been rejuvenated at Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2023 [CREDIT: IPLT20] |
Tushar Deshpande has emerged as Chennai’s premier wicket-taking option, particularly upfront. He has taken 20 wickets, though at times he has leaked runs. Ravindra Jadeja has been typically miserly with his slow left-arm, taking 17 wickets with an economy of 7.65.
Fellow spinners Maheesha Theekshana and Moeen Ali have also generally been tidy, taking nine wickets each while going for no more than eight runs an over, forming a strong base of spin through the middle overs.
Matheesha Pathirana, Theekshana’s Sri Lanka teammate, has been a true breakout star for the Super Kings. Incredibly, he has so far played the majority of his professional matches with Chennai despite being an overseas player. He has played just once for Sri Lanka so far but on the back of this year’s IPL, that is sure to change.
He has a slinging action akin to Sri Lanka and IPL legend Lasith Malinga and is similarly quick and tricky to pick up. He has taken 15 wickets so far with an economy of 7.56 and has consistently nailed yorkers and slower balls to get the better of opposing batters.
What happened in the previous IPL 2023 match between Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings?
The two teams only played once in the league stage, such is the way that the fixtures are divided between the ten sides. In a separate twist, it was actually the first match of the IPL 2023 season. Taking place in Gujarat’s home stadium in Ahmedabad, Hardik won the toss and elected to put MS Dhoni’s side into bat.
Conway went early but Gaikwad set his stall out immediately with some incredibly clean striking. He did not get too much assistance, though, as wickets fell at semi-regular intervals. He got to a half-century in just 23 balls and was able to put on a fifty partnership with Ambati Rayudu for the fourth wicket in which Gaikwad dominated the scoring. The opener departed first ball of the 18th after he struck a full toss from Alzarri Joseph to long-on for 92 from 50 balls.
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| Rashid Khan started as he meant to go on in the first match of the tournament against CSK, claiming 2-26 [CREDIT: IPLT20] |
Dhoni struck a quick 14 from seven balls at the end to get Chennai up to 178-7. Rashid was the star for Gujarat, taking 2-26 in his four overs while Shami also picked up 2-29 in his four. Joseph was the third Titans bowler to pick up a couple of wickets with 2-33 from his full quota.
In response, the Titans openers got off to a quick start before Saha slashed at one from Rajvardhan Hangargekar to depart 25 off 16, an innings that included two fours and two sixes. Gill got to his half-century in 30 balls, with Sudharsan and Hardik falling either side. Gill’s dismissal ensured a potentially nervy ending for the Titans, leaving them with 51 to get in five overs.
Shankar then went three overs later for 27 off 21 to leave 23 needed from 12 deliveries. Rahul Tewatia, so often there at the end of a chase, saw the Titans home alongside Rashid, who struck an unbeaten ten off three balls as Gujarat got their title defence off to a winning start with five wickets and four balls to spare. Hangargekar was the main man with the ball for the Super Kings, taking 3-36 in his four overs in what turned out to be the first of only two matches in the league stage.
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