The defending champions of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Gujarat Titans (GT) are off to a good start in IPL 2023. The Hardik Pandya led side defeated Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by 5 wickets in the opening game of IPL 2023 after some good contributions from the entire.
Gujarat’s whole story in their brief stay so far in the IPL has been the ability to absorb pressure during crunch moments. Part of this must be credited to their exceptional finishers in the form of Rahul Tewatia, David Miller and Rashid Khan.
With David Miller being available after a couple of games, Gujarat Titans will be bolstered by a huge degree.
In this article, we take a look at 3 talking points of yesterday’s IPL match between Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings:
1. Ruturaj Gaikwad is timing the ball beautifully
Chennai batter Ruturaj Gaikwad played eloquently in the season opener. It seemed like he was batting on another planet as he was middling every single ball. He single-handedly powered Chennai to a fighting total, courtesy his gem of an innings of 92 of just 50 balls.
His innings was peppered with 4 fours and 9 sixes and he was timing every single ball. The Orange Cap holder of IPL 2021 is in fine form and this will bode well for Chennai Super Kings.
2. Lack of game time of a lot of players of Chennai players made them struggle
Some of the players in the middle-order of Chennai Super Kings don’t play a lot of cricket at the highest level or even domestic cricket. Ambati Rayudu and MS Dhoni only play the IPL and Shivam Dube doesn’t play international cricket.
This naturally made them struggle a lot in the middle overs and if not for Ruturaj Gaikwad’s exceptional innings, Chennai Super Kings could have been in a spot of bother.
3. Shubman Gill is in exceptional form
Shubman Gill is continuing from where he left off as he struck a quick-fire half-century. Gill scored 63 runs in just 36 balls and laid the foundation of Gujarat’s run-chase.
Gill scored 6 fours and 3 sixes and batted with a brilliant strike-rate of 175. He looks in solid touch and Gujarat Titans would be extremely happy with his performance.
Also read: IPL 2023: 3 Reasons Why Dinesh Karthik Might Once Again Have A Blistering Season
