‘Ham Gujarati ko Harana asan thodi hai’ – Fans react as Gujarat beat Chennai by 5 wickets in the first game of ITL 23
At the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday, the defending champion Gujarat took on four-time champion Chennai in Indian T20 League 2023’s opener. Hardik Pandya led Gujarat and beat Chennai by […]
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Apr 1, 2023 12:09 am
Gujarat vs Chennai (Source: Twitter)
At the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday, the defending champion Gujarat took on four-time champion Chennai in Indian T20 League 2023’s opener. Hardik Pandya led Gujarat and beat Chennai by 5 wickets in the first game. Earlier, batting first Chennai scored 178/7 in 20 overs with the help of Ruturaj Gaikwad’s amazing half-century. With the help of four boundaries and nine maximums, he scored 92 runs off 50 balls.
After winning the toss, Gujarat skipper Hardik Pandya opted to bowl first. The decision did go well with his team as they clinched early wickets to put pressure on the visiting team. However, despite losing wickets at regular intervals, Chennai posted a competitive total of 178/7 in 20 overs.
Ruturaj hammered an amazing half-century but missed a well-deserved century. He was dismissed by Alzzari Joseph for 92 runs off 50 balls. Apart from him, skipper MS Dhoni 14 off 7, Shivam Dube 19 off 18, and Moeen Ali 23 off 17 also played some crucial parts in the innings. Meanwhile, Afghani spinner Rashid Khan, Mohammed Shami, and Joseph shined with the bowl as they clinched two wickets each. On the other hand, Irish bowler Joshua Little clinched a wicket as he dismissed Ambati Raydu for 12 runs off 12 balls.
Notably, before the second innings, Chennai used the impact player rule to replace Ambati Raydu with Tushar Deshpande. Chennai became the first team to utilize the brand-new regulation, and Tushar made his debut for Chennai this year. Gujarat, meanwhile, chose Sai Sudarshan as an impact player in place of Kane Williamson.
Shubman Gill made the chase easy for Gujarat
Chasing 179 was never an easy task for the defending champions, and they were relying on their opening pair to start well. Opening batter Shubman Gill and Wrridhman Saha started well as they added 37 runs for the first wicket in four overs. Saha, in his innings, scored 25 runs off 16 balls with the help of two four as well as maximums. While Gill, in his innings, hammered 63 runs off 36 balls with the help of six boundaries and three maximums. He was dismissed by Tushar Deshpande on the last ball of the 15th over.
After Gill’s dismissal, when victory was looking hard for Gujarat, allrounders stepped up for the team. Vijay Shankar, 27 off 21, Rashid Khan, 10 off 3, and Rahul Tewatia, 15 off 14 balls, played a crucial cameo as they clinched the game for the team. Rajvardhan Hangerekar shined with the bowl for Chennai as he clinched three wickets in his debut game.
Meanwhile, fans react after Chennai’s loss. A Twitter user said, “Tushar Deshpande was playing for Gujarat.”
Here are some Tweets:
New Year, New Season but winning thrilling matches remains same for @gujarat_titans 😘 defending IPL Champion played like a champion today, congratulations to @hardikpandya7 & whole #GT management 👏 #Gujarat team won in Narendra #Modi's stadium, what a combo 😍
