The first Qualifier (GT vs CSK) match of IPL 2023 was played between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Gujarat Titans (GT) at Chepauk Stadium in Chennai. After winning the toss, Gujarat captain Hardik Pandya decided to bowl first after winning the toss. And batting first, Chennai Super Kings posted a score of 172/7 on the board. The Gujarat team failed to achieve this challenging target on the Chennai pitch.
Coming to bat first, Chennai openers added 87 runs for the first wicket, Rituraj Gaikwad played a tremendous half-century innings of 60 runs. He faced 44 balls and hit 7 fours and 1 six. After the fall of Gaikwad’s wicket, Chennai’s innings looked shaky. Devon Conway played a fighting inning of 40 runs off 34 balls, while Shivam Dubey scored 1 run, Ajinkya Rahane and Ambati Rayudu scored 17-17 runs in the middle order. In the end Ravindra Jadeja played some good shots and scored 22 off 16 balls. Chennai captain MS Dhoni returned to the pavilion after scoring only 1 run in 2 balls. Mohammed Shami and Mohit Sharma got 2-2 wickets for Gujarat Titans while Darshan Nalkande, Noor Ahmed and Rashid Khan got 1-1 wickets.
Chasing the target, the Gujarat openers made a steady start but Wriddhiman Saha returned to the pavilion early after scoring 12 runs. After that the Chennai bowlers shocked the Titans at frequent intervals. Hardik Pandya was able to score 8 runs, Dasun Shanaka 17 runs, David Miller 4 runs and Vijay Shankar 14 runs. At the other end, Shubman Gill showed necessary courage but his innings also ended on 42 runs. In the end, Rashid Khan played quick shots and scored 30 runs in 16 balls but could not win his team. On the last ball of the 20th over, the Gujarat team was all out for 157 runs and the team missed the opportunity to go to the final by 15 runs.
In 16 seasons of IPL, Chennai Super Kings have reached the final for the 10th time. Significantly, in 2016 and 2017, Chennai was not a part of the IPL. Still, the record of playing the most finals as a team is in the name of Dhoni’s team.