On this day, May 23, 2023: Ruturaj Gaikwad takes Chennai Super Kings to the Final of IPL 2023. It was the Qualifier 1 between Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. Chennai Super Kings were batting first and the openers got off to a brilliant start with Conway and Ruturaj going well in the powerplay without losing a wicket. They stitched up 87 run partnership for the opening wicket and the platform was set.
Ruturaj Gaikwad went past a half century and was the first to get dismissed as he fell for 60 runs from 44 balls. Gujarat Titans came back into the game in the middle overs as CSK kept losing wickets. Despite not getting support from other batters, Devon Conway made 40 and held the innings together. Chennai Super Kings got a decent finish in the end as Jadeja and Moeen Ali did well in the last few overs to take Chennai Super Kings to 172/7 at the end of the first innings. It was a good score on a surface that was a bit two paced. Ruturaj had really batted well to ensure Chennai Super Kings got an above par score.
Chasing the target, Gujarat Titans lost the wicket of Saha early and were in trouble at 22/1. Hardik Pandya and Shubman Gill stitched a partnership but just as things were going well, Gujarat Titans lost the big wicket of captain Hardik Pandya. Shubman Gill scored 42 but once he was dismissed the Chennai Super Kings were all over the Gujarat Titans picking up wickets at regular intervals.
Ravindra Jadeja was really effective picking up two wickets and late flourish from Rashid Khan gave them some hope but it was too late as Gujarat Titans finished the innings with 157 and lost the game by 15 runs. It was a thrilling match and Ruturaj Gaikwad was the player of the match leading the Chennai Super Kings to the Final.
