Ahmedabad: The 16th season of the IPL T20 started with a bang yesterday at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. In the opening match, Gujarat Titans led by defending champion Hardik Pandya and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) led by 4-time champion Dhoni clashed. Batting first, CSK scored 178 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in 20 overs.
Top opener Ruduraj Gaekwad scored 92 off 50 balls with 4 fours and 9 sixes. Ruduraj Gaekwad was brilliant as he smashed 3 sixes in the overs of Alzari Joseph, 2 sixes each in the overs of Joshua Little and Hardik Pandya and one six each in the overs of Yash Dayal and Rashid Khan.
Daven Conway 1, Moeen Ali 23, Ben Stokes 7, Ambati Rayudu 12, Vam Dubey 19, Ravindra Jadeja 1 run. Dhoni, who swung the bat in the final over, was unbeaten with a six off 7 balls each, 14 with a boundary, and Mitchell Sandner with a single. Mohammad Shami, Rashid Khan and Alzari Joseph took 2 wickets each for Gujarat team.
At one stage, the Chennai team had accumulated 100 runs in 11 overs. But the team managed to score only 78 runs in the next 9 overs. In this period Shivam Dube scored only 19 runs off 18 balls. This caused stagnation in the Chennai team’s run-quick. As Dhoni swung the bat in the final over, he was able to add up to 178 runs.
Batting with a target of 179 runs, the Gujarat team played aggressively. Rithiman Saha scored 25 runs off 16 balls with 2 sixes and 2 fours and Sai Sudarcharan, who replaced Williamson under the ‘Impact Player’ rule, scored 22 runs off 17 balls with 3 fours as debutant Hungerkegar was bowled out. Hardik Pandya was bowled by Jadeja for 8 runs.
Opener Shubman Gill scored 63 runs off 36 balls with 3 sixes and 6 fours before being dismissed by Dushar Deshpande. 34 runs were needed from the last 4 overs to win. Deepak Shahkar bowled the 17th over and conceded only 4 runs. Vijay Shankar was dismissed in the last ball of the next over bowled by Hungerkegar for a six. He scored 27 runs off 21 balls.
Needing 23 runs off 12 balls, Rashid Khan scored 15 runs with a four and a six in the 19th over bowled by Deepak Shahkar. With 8 runs needed in the last over bowled by Tusshar Deshpande, the first ball was wide. Diwatia hit the next two balls for a six and a boundary as Gujarat scored 182 runs for the loss of 5 wickets in 19.2 overs and won by 5 wickets. Rahul Diwatia remained unbeaten on 15 and Rashid Khan on 10.
Hungerkagar took 3 wickets for Siske team. Dushar Deshpande, who replaced Ambati Rayudu under the ‘Impact Player’ rule, bowled 51 runs in 3.2 overs and took one wicket.
Dhoni’s 200th Six: In the match against Gujarat, Dhoni hit a six in the last over bowled by Little Josh. This is Dhoni’s 200th six in IPL history while playing for CSK. With this, Dhoni joined the list of players who have hit 200 sixes in the IPL series for the same team. Chris Gayle (RCB) has 239 sixes, De Villiers (RCB) 238, Kieron Pollard (Mumbai) 223 and Virat Kohli (RCB) 218 sixes in this category.
2nd in six: CSK’s opener Ruduraj Gaekwad hit 9 sixes in the match against Gujarat. With this, he has shared the 2nd position with Robin Uthappa, Brendon McCullum and Michael Hussey in the list of most sixes in an innings for CSK. Murali Vijay tops the list with 11 sixes.
After 315 days…: CSK captain Dhoni, who participated in the 2022 IPL series, took the field against Gujarat Titans this season after about 315 days.
‘Shami 100’: In the match against CSK, Gujarat’s Mohammed Shami bowled Daven Conway. Mohammed Shami won the IPL series
This is the 100th wicket.
First Irishman.. Ireland’s Josh Little, who worked as a bowler in the CSK team’s training camp in the 2022 IPL series, played for Gujarat this season yesterday. Josh Little is the first Irish player to play in the IPL. Josh Little delivered 15 runs in his first over.
‘The New Testament is luxurious’: Dhoni said during the toss event that we would have chosen to bowl. We are well prepared for this series. Joining earlier for training was helpful. The Impact Player Rule is a luxury. Decision making is a bit easier as this rule can be applied at any time within 14 overs. With this rule, the influence of the all-rounder will decrease a little,” he said.
