Chennai Super Kings are through to their 10th IPL final. They beat defending champions Gujarat Titans by 15 runs
GT will now play the winner of the Eliminator between Lucknow Super Giants and Mumbai Indians for a second chance to reach the final.
Chennai Super Kings reached the final of Indian Premier League 2023 with a clinical 15-run win over Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 1 at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. MS Dhoni’s CSK outclassed the defending champions in all three departments to reach the final for the 10th time. Gujarat, who have a tremendous record while chasing, failed to get 173 as the CSK bowlers bundled them out for 157.
Ravindra Jadeja (2/18) was the standout bowler for CSK, while Maheesh Theekshana (2/28), Deepak Chahar (2/29) and Matheesha Pathirana (2/37) also claimed two wickets each.
Chasing the tricky 173-run target, Gujarat Titans lost the crucial wicket of opener Wriddhiman Saha for 12. In the crucial clash, Hardik Pandya promoted himself up in the batting order but the move didn’t work out well as he was dismissed for just 8. After losing the two early wickets in the powerplay, Gujarat Titans slowed down as Shubman Gill and Dasun Shanaka looked to revive the chase but Ravindra Jadeja got the better of the latter to break the 31-run stand.
Titans just kept losing wickets at regular intervals as they failed to tackle the CSK bowlers’ plan on the tricky surface. The designated finishers David Miller (4) and Rahul Tewatia (3) were trapped in the web by CSK spinners while Gill (42) was dismissed by Deepak Chahar to put the Titans on the mat.
While Rashid Khan took the game a bit closer as the Afghan all-rounder once again displayed his batting prowess but Gujarat Titans kept losing wickets at regular intervals.