Ahmedabad: Gujarat Titans’ hopes of a top-two finish in the IPL suffered a massive dent when they went down by 83 runs to Chennai Super Kings, who were powered by fifty-makers Devon Conway and Dewald Brevis, here Sunday.
The Titans have 18 points after a full set of 14 league matches and are still on top of the table despite the Net Run Rate taking a nose dive after this big defeat. To maintain their position inside the top two, GT now require Royal Challengers Bengaluru (17 points) to go down to Lucknow Super Giants in their final league match. It’s important because either Mumbai Indians (16) or Punjab Kings (17 points) will overtake GT with a win from their face-off.
Cutting back to the match, once asked to chase a stiff 231, the Titans floundered badly losing in-form skipper Shubman Gill, Jos Buttler and Sherfane Rutherford in the Power Play passage itself with just 35 runs on the board. The Gujarat side was bowled out for 147 in 18.3 overs. Pacer Anshul Kamboj did the early damage, claiming the wickets of Gill and Rutherford. Sai Sudharsan (41, 28b), the latest entrant into the India Test squad, and his Tamil Nadu team-mate M Shahrukh Khan (19) added 55 runs for the fourth wicket to infuse some interest into the chase.
But left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja returned for his second spell to dismiss both Sudharsan and Shahrukh in the space of four balls in the 11th over, and the match effectively ended at that point.
CSK finished their IPL 2025 engagements at the bottom of the pile with eight points from 14 matches, the five-time champions’ worst ever finish in the 10-team league. Earlier, seasoned Conway and promising Brevis produced fifties of contrasting character, laying the foundation for Chennai Super Kings’ healthy 230 for five. Once the Super Kings elected to bat on a super hot afternoon, Conway and Brevis led the charge with a 52 off 35 balls, and a 23-ball 57 on a smooth pitch. But Conway’s knock was put to shade a bit by cameos by Ayush Mhatre (34, 17b) and Urvil Patel (37, 19b), who made runs at a respective strike rate of 200 and 194, ensured runs came at a fast clip for CSK.
The CSK raced out of the paddock, making 44 in just 3.4 overs, courtesy Mhatre’s brutal assault on pacer Arshad Khan.
Mhatre carved Arshad for 2, 6, 6, 4, 4, 6 in the second over to milk 28 runs and Chennai rarely let that momentum slip.
Mhatre, who was recently appointed as the India U19 skipper, soon fell to Prasidh Krishna, skying him to Siraj in deep.