Gill sizzles as Gujarat begin IPL title defence with five-wicket win over CSK

Shubman Gill eclipsed Ruturaj Gaikwads highquality knock with a dazzling halfcentury as Gujarat Titans began their title defence with a convincing fivewicket win over Chennai Super Kings in the IPL opener here on FridayGaikwad was all class in his 92 off 50 balls before Titans pulled things back in the middle overs to limit Chennai Super Kings to 178 for seven after opting to bowl first in front of a near capacity crowd at the worlds largest cricket stadium hereIn the form of his life over the past three months Gill played some jawdropping strokes in his 63 off 36 balls to set up a fine win for the home team Titans got home in 192 oversGills opening partner Wriddhiman Saha showed he has still got it as he smashed a couple of sixes and as many fours in his 16ball 25 that got the Titans going in the run chaseGills best shot of the innings was the back foot punch off CSKs impact player Tushar Deshpande and he followed with a pick up shot over midwicketTitans impact player Sai Sudharsan who was used in place of an injured Kane Williamson contributed with 22 off 17 ballsAlso ReadIPL 2023 GT vs CSK highlights A Rashid Khan masterclass seals it for Gujarat TitansWhen Gill departed Titans needed 41 off the last five overs but CSK managed to take the game down to the wireIt needed a cameo from Rashid Khan 10 not out off 3 to settled the nerves in the Titans dressing roomEarlier it was a display of effortless hitting from Gaikwad who relied on his lofted drives over extra cover and crisp pull shots to collect as many as nine sixesApart from Gaikwad the only other batter who put the Titans under pressure was Moeen Ali who came up with a 17ball 23 Alis flat six off Mohammad Shami on a freehit ball was the highlight of his cameoGaikwad pulled IPL debutant Joshua Little on his very first ball to set the tone of his innings That over went for 15 runs and with Shami conceding 17 runs in the following over CSK got the momentum they were looking forTitans trump card Rashid Khan was introduced in the powerplay and as he often does he got the wicket that his team was looking for by getting the dangerous looking Ali caught behindRashids second over saw him getting rid of England Test captain Ben Stokes who too was caught by wicketkeeper Saha leaving CSK at 70 for threeHowever the fall of wickets did not make Gaikwad change his game as he kept getting the boundaries He welcomed Alzarri Joseph into the attack by smashing him for three sixes in the eighth overTitans did well to stem the flow of runs in the middle overs and got the wicket of Ambati RayuduShivam Dube struggled to find the big hits and that put pressure on Gaikwad who was caught in the deep in the 17th over and missed out on a deserving hundredSkipper M S Dhoni came out to bat at number eight but still managed to make an impact as he pulled Little for a six before flicking him for a four in the final over sending the crowd into a frenzyWilliamson injured his knee while fielding at the boundary and limped off the fieldThe last five overs yielded 45 runs for CSKThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever