Gujarat Titans are in prime form and they can have no better chance to retain the IPL title as they travel from Karnataka to Tamil Nadu for the 1st Qualifier of IPL 2023 against MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings. If we go by the odds and stuff then CSK have actually never won a match against Hardik Pandya’s side since their inclusion in the tournament last year.
This year too when the 2 teams met each other at the Narendra Modi Stadium for a blockbuster opening game, Gujarat Titans tripled their tally of wins against CSK. Ruturaj Gaikwad had lit up the World’s Largest Cricket stadium with raining sixes and fours as he ended up scoring 92 off 50 balls.
CSK vs GT in IPL history:
– GT won
– GT won
– GT wonToday, CSK will take on GT in Qualifier 1. pic.twitter.com/Wc5qmV1Em7
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) May 23, 2023
MS Dhoni also got into the action by coming in at number 8 in the Batting order after the dismissal of Shivam Dubey. The 41-year-old smacked 14 off 7 deliveries to help CSK register 178/7 with Afghani leg-spinner Rashid Khan registering figures of 2/26 runs in 4 overs.
Rashid’s wonderful bowling alongside Shubman Gill’s 63 off 36 in the 2nd innings, eclipsed Ruturaj’s knock as GT safely won by 5 wickets. CSK suffered in that match particularly for their bowling but they have improved a lot since then.
CSK openers can be said that they can challenge the duo of Shubman Gill and Wriddhimann Saha. But CSK’s bowling line-up consisting of spinning trio of Ravindra Jadeja, Maheesh Theekshana and Moeen Ali will face competition from Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmed while Deshpande and Matheesha Pathirana will see Veteran Mohammad Shami challenge them.
According to reports, the slow track at Chepauk will be replaced by the 5th choice wicket where Punjab Kings chased down 200 runs. Good news for GT is Shubman Gill hitting peak form and playing clutch innings for the team which saw him score 2 Centuries already this season.
He also guided GT to an emphatic victory over RCB in the last game of IPL 2023 to deny the former team’s chances of play-off qualifications.
So it is evenly set for both the teams to make their mark and prevail in what is the ticket to Finale.