Chasing a rain-curtailed 171-run target in 15 overs, CSK needed 10 to win off the last two balls, only for Ravindra Jadeja to hoist Mohit Sharma straight down the ground for a six and follow it up with a glanced four to the fine-leg boundary.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) pulled off a stunning pinch to beat Gujarat Titans (GT) by five lattices and win its fifth Indian Premier League title at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad in the atomic hours of Tuesday.
Chasing a rain- elided 171- run target in 15 overs, CSK demanded 10 to win off the last two balls, only for Ravindra Jadeja to hoist Mohit Sharma straight down the ground for a six and follow it up with a glanced four to the fine- leg boundary.
Mohit, until also, had sounded set to defend 13 runs in the last over. He conceded just three off the first four deliveries but missed his length trying to drift yorkers off the last two.
Sai Sudharsan’s atrocious 96( 47b, 8×4, 6×6) had propelled defending champion GT to a mammoth 214 for four. The score was the loftiest any platoon had made in an IPL final, but CSK was left to chase a reduced target after a 20- nanosecond shower three balls into its reply left the turf unplayable for nearly two hours and 30 twinkles.
Two practice pitches at the extreme ends of the main 22- yard strip were mangled because the covers couldn’t be brought on in time.
But once the contest renewed at12.10a.m., CSK scored at a rapid-fire pace. Ruturaj Gaikwad( 26, 16b, 3×4, 1×6) and Devon Conway( 47, 25b, 4×4, 2×6) put on 74 runs in just 39 balls, and Ajinkya Rahane( 27, 13b, 2×4, 2×6) and Shivam Dube( 32n.o., 21b, 2×6) continued in the same tone.
With 38 demanded from three overs, Ambati Rayudu, turning out for the last time in the IPL, pounded Mohit for two sixes and a four( 19, 8b, 1×4, 2×6). But Mohit brought GT right back into the game by claiming Rayudu and M.S. Dhoni off back- to- back balls.
Mohammed Shami conceded just eight runs in the penultimate over, leaving Mohit to defend 13. And just when the 34- time-old former CSK leader appeared to be getting the job done, Jadeja snared palm from the jaws of defeat. Trump card Rashid Khan had an ordinary day for GT, conceding 44 runs in three overs.
Before in the evening, all eyes were on Indian justice’s crown Napoleon, Shubman Gill, who sounded set to enjoy one of the game’s biggest stages. But Tamil Nadu batter Sudharsan, who was bought by GT in the February 2022 transaction at his base price of Rs 20 lakh, ended up sculpturing a niche for himself.
Coming in at the fall of Gill(67/1, eighth over), Sudharsan’s was a superbly paced knock. His first 20 runs took as numerous as 17 balls, vigilant as he was when Jadeja and Maheesh Theekshana sailed stifling lines( overs seven to 10, 24 runs).
But from the coming 30 deliveries, he scored 76 golden runs to make his loftiest IPL score in his 13th match.
GT, after being asked to club, had a fine Power Play, with Wriddhiman Saha (54, 39b, 5×4, 1×6) and Gill( 39, 20b, 7×4) combining to score 62 runs. CSK didn’t help itself, fumbling as numerous as three chances, including a babysitter by Deepak Chahar at square- leg when Gill was on three.
And the batter capitalized, looking resplendent for as long as he was in the middle. The 23- time-old megahit Tushar Deshpande and Theekshana for a chapeau- trick of fours each, but his stylish shot came off Chahar, a trademark half- cut when slightly allowed any room.
But in the seventh over, Jadeja worked his magic, drawing Gill out of the crinkle and having him stumped. That brought Sudharsan to the middle, and after a many overs ’ recce, he made the play.
He steered Matheesha Pathirana to the off- side boundary doubly to get going before smashing Jadeja and Theekshana for three sixes in the mid-wicket region. The partial century( 32b) came with a four behind point off Pathirana.
In the 17th over, Deshpande( 4-0-56-0) was transferred on a leather quest. Sudharsan lined up for a scoop, but the ball sailed over Dhoni for a six via a commanding edge. The 21- time-old, who oozes fallacy, maybe felt spoiled and came up with three sublime drives to the hedge down the ground, through cover, and extra-cover.
And when Sudharsan launched Pathirana( 4-0-44-0) for back- to- back sixes at the launch of the 20th — overextra-cover and a slog- sweep over long- on — a century sounded imminent, only for a yorker- length ball to trap him in front. But indeed his stylish sweats were shy. Know More IPL News…
