IPL 2024: 7th Match At MA Chidambaram Stadium, the Gujarat Titans were easily defeated by the reigning champion Chennai Super Kings . Gujarat was no match for the Ruturaj Gaikwad-led team, who dominated both at bat and with the ball as they won by 63 runs. The team had a lot of success in the game, which should boost their confidence moving forward.
Notably, Rachin Ravindra gave the hosts a magnificent start when he batted first. The international player from New Zealand scored 46 runs in just 20 deliveries, while Gaikwad scored the same number of runs in 36 deliveries. Following their removal, Shivam Dube took care of business, hitting 23 deliveries for 51 runs. None of GT’s strategies hindered the all-round player as he wrecked havoc in the centre. Later, after CSK scored 206 runs in the opening inning, Sameer Rizvi and Ravindra Jadeja made brief appearances.
Gujarat had trouble from the start when it came to the chase. Even though Wriddhiman Saha made it through a near scare early on and scored 21 runs, he was unable to capitalise on it as he made his way back to the pavilion. Pressure was put on the visitors when skipper Shubman Gill smashed a six off his opening ball but he was also removed early.
They kept losing wickets intermittently and were unable to reach the needed run pace. Highlights of the second innings included spectacular catches made by MS Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane, and Rachin during the chase. The fact that none of GT’s batters were able to make an impression is quite concerning because, despite winning the first game versus MI, their batting lineup was unimpressive there as well.
Also read: IPL 2024: CSK vs GT Match 7 Highlights
1. Rachin Ravindra in a Sehwag-like role
Rachin was named by his father after Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, but when Gujarat batted, the little player was like Virender Sehwag. He hit 46 runs off just 20 deliveries after a stellar start that allowed him to take on GT’s more seasoned bowlers. Unfortunately, he was out as Wriddhiman Saha stumped him in the sixth over because the 24-year-old could see where the ball was. But for the rest of the season, his outstanding knock will boost his confidence greatly.
2. Shivam Dube making a T20 World Cup audition
Shivam Dube is getting very little attention because Rinku Singh, Suryakumar Yadav, and Hardik Pandya are all eligible for the T20 World Cup. The all-rounder proved why he is still one of the favourites to make it against Gujarat. Dube demonstrated a great style of cricket against one of the world’s top spinners, Rashid Khan, and if he continues in that vein, the cricketer should secure a spot in the major event.
3. GT batters appear unremarkable.
Since the hitters haven’t arrived yet, their bowlers performed admirably against the Mumbai Indians to help them win. While David Miller and Vijay Shankar, who were both exceptionally good last year, have also been dreadful, Gill has not lived up to the high expectations placed on him thus far. Immediately, things in the GT camp must change.
Losing skipper Shubman Gill said:
They outplayed us when we were batting, their execution was spot on. We backed ourselves to get a decent score in the powerplay and once we didn’t, we were always playing catch-up. It was unfortunate for us. In T20 you can always talk about 10-15 runs here or there, end of the day it’s about how much they got. On this wicket, we were expecting to chase 190-200. I think it’s a great learning for the bowlers.
I think it’s better to have this kind of game early on in the tournament rather than in the middle or late. We always expected to chase 190-200, it was a really good wicket. Felt like we let ourselves down while batting. (On captaincy) Lot of new learnings, new experiences and different things. It’s exciting to captain a team like Gujarat Titans, we’ve made it to the finals in the last couple of years so very exciting.
Winning captain Ruturaj Gaikwad said:
Definitely today’s game was perfect – batting, bowling and fielding, and against a team like Gujarat we needed to come up with a performance like this. In Chennai we are not sure how the wicket will be, we need to do well irrespective of batting or bowling first. Here if we have wickets in hand at the end it helps. Personally felt, Rachin batted brilliantly in the powerplay and took the game away.
From there we were always ahead. (on Dube) In terms of confidence, the management and Mahi bhai worked with him personally, his confidence is very high. He knows his roles very well. Definitely he is a big plus for us. I’m impressed with the fielding as well. Maybe one or two youngsters we have extra this year and great effort from Jinks, even in the last game he was running from one end to the other. Fielding is a big tick for us.
POTM Shivam Dube said:
This franchise is different from all others. This franchise is giving me the freedom and I also want to win some matches for them. I worked in that way as well – it is helping me, I know they are going to bowl short balls and I’m ready for that. They want me to go on a higher strike-rate and I want to do that.
India
