Ahmedabad: Except for Dhoni, the entire Chennai team ran on the field. Dhoni, possibly playing his last IPL, closed his eyes to hide the moisture in his eyes. Later he reached among the team to celebrate. Earlier, with the help of B Sai Sudarshan’s 47-ball 96, defending champions Gujarat Titans scored 214 for four.
Sudarshan hit eight fours and six sixes in his innings. He gave Gujarat a huge score by playing important partnerships. Shubman Gill was dismissed for 39 off 20 balls and Wriddhiman Saha scored a half-century. In response, Chennai started very aggressively and Devon Conway (47 runs in 25 balls) and Ruturaj Gaikwad (26 runs in 16 balls) added 74 runs in 39 balls for the first wicket.
Afghanistan’s Noor Ahmed brought Gujarat back into the match by sending both of them to the pavilion in the seventh over. Ajinkya Rahane became the first victim of Mohit by scoring 27 runs in 13 balls. At the other end, Shivam Dubey took time to settle down but he opened his arms by hitting Rashid for two sixes. Ambati Rayudu, playing his last match, scored 19 runs in eight balls with one four and two sixes. Once again, Mohit gave Gujarat the upper hand by taking wickets in two consecutive balls in the 13th over.
After Rayudu’s dismissal, Dhoni landed on the ground to a standing ovation from the packed stadium but he was caught by David Miller on the very first ball without scoring. After this Gujarat bowlers started dominating and 22 runs were needed in the last two overs and 14 runs in the last over.
The first four balls of the last over, Mohit bowled a yorker and only four runs were scored but he missed the last two balls and Jadeja snatched the victory from the hands of Gujarat. Earlier, in the second over for Gujarat, Gill played a shot down the leg side off Tushar Deshpande but Deepak Chahar, standing at short fine leg, dropped the catch. Gill, however, could not replicate the performance he did in the second qualifier against Mumbai Indians. From the other end, Saha put pressure on Chennai by scoring 16 runs in the third over. After this, Gill hit Deshpande for three consecutive fours while Saha’s return catch was dropped by Chahar.
After the powerplay, Gujarat’s score was 62 for no loss. In the seventh over, however, Mahendra Singh Dhoni sent Gill to the pavilion, presenting an example of skillful stumping while the bowler was Ravindra Jadeja. Gill averaged 59.33 and scored 157 in 17 matches this season. They Scored 890 runs at a strike rate of 80 which is the second-best performance by a batsman in the history of IPL. Saha completed his second half-century in this IPL in the 13th over. The 64-run partnership between him and Sai Sudarshan ended in the 14th over when Chahar had him caught by Dhoni.
Saha scored 54 runs in 39 balls with the help of five fours and a six. Sudarshan, the second-highest run-scorer for Gujarat this season, completed his third half-century by hitting Mathisha Pathirana for consecutive fours. He hit Teekshana for two sixes while Deshpande hit three fours and a six. In the last over, Pathirana dismissed Sudarshan lbw and denied him a century. Hardik Pandya scored an unbeaten 21 runs in 12 balls.
