The previous season’s finalists took on each other at the Chepauk on Tuesday but it turned out to be a one-sided affair as reigning champions Chennai Super Kings trounced Gujarat Titans by 63 runs. GT skipper Shubman Gill admitted they let themselves down while batting as they could only manage 143 runs on the board.
Gill also admitted that the opposition outplayed them when they were batting as they posted an above-par score of 207 runs on the board after being put into bat. Shivam Dube continued his rich form, scoring his seventh IPL fifty. Dube was able to hit the ground running as he smashed two sixes on the first two balls he faced against Sai Kishore.
Earlier in the innings, Rachin Ravindra provided a brisk start to CSK, racing to 46 off just 20 balls before Wriddhiman Saha stumped him.
On the other hand, Gujarat Titans came up with a mundane batting performance. None of their batters could go past the 40-run mark and they were never in the contest as the required run rate kept shooting through the roof.
Shubman Gill said in the post-match presentation, “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.”
He added, “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.”
Gill also opened up about the captaincy responsibility and admitted there are a lot of new learnings for him.
He concluded, “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.”
Gujarat Titans will next take on Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Sunday.
