CSK managed to beat GT by 63 runs to make it two wins in as many games. (Image: Sportzpics)
‘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,’ said Ruturaj Gaikwad after the win vs GT.
The five-time title holders and defending champions continued their winning ways as they beat the Gujarat Titans in a convincing victory by 63 runs to extend their winning run at home in the M.A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
CSK managed to put on a clinical performance on all fronts to dominate the Shubman Gill-led side. With the bat, it was Shivam Dube that led the charts with 51 runs off 23 deliveries coupled with 46 runs from each of the openers Rachin Ravindra and skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad.
Speaking in the post-match presentation, Gaikwad was elated with the side’s dominant show at home. He said,” 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”.
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He added,” 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”.
Surprisingly, the tracks at Chepauk were suited to batting as the home side were asked to bat first and went on to post a massive total of 206 runs on the board.
The skipper also gave special mention to his fellow partner at the top of the order for setting the tone of the innings by taking an aggressive approach at the start of the powerplay to give CSK a quick start. He praised,” Personally felt that Rachin batted brilliantly in the powerplay and took the game away. From there we were always ahead.”
READ MORE: IPL 2024: Holders CSK Outclass GT at ‘The Den’ as Shivam Dube Stars With a Half-century
But the highlight of the day was Shivam Dube who managed to put on a show for the home crowd. He made a statement by smashing two sixes right off the bat against the TN-based spinner R Sai Kishore. He even attacked the pacers who were looking to use the short-ball, which was his weakness in the previous seasons against him but managed to put those demons aside and go on the offensive to bring up his fifty in quick time.
Gaikwad revealed the changes he made for his flourishing start to the 2024 season. He said,” In terms of confidence, the management and Mahi bhai worked with him, his confidence is very high. He knows his roles very well. He is a big plus for us”.
In the second innings, GT was not able to get going after a dominant show with the ball where Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande and Mustafizur Rahman managed to pick up two wickets each to deny any chance of a comeback.
This was also bolstered by a fine fielding performance from the young guns along with the veterans. Rachin picked up three good takes while Sameer Rizvi had the lone catch. MS Dhoni had a sensational effort diving to his right to get rid of Vijay Shankar while Ajinkya Rahane also put in a dive to get rid of the dangerous David Miller.
The captain concluded by saying,” I’m impressed with the fielding as well. Maybe one or two youngsters we have extra this year and great effort from Jinks (Rahane), even in the last game he was running from one end to the other. Fielding is a big tick for us”.
