• Home
  • Match Hub
  • Csk Vs Gt Ipl Final Sai Sudharsan Lits Up Ipl Finale With Calculative Assault On Csk

CSK vs GT, IPL Final | Sai Sudharsan Lits up IPL Finale with Calculative Assault on CSK


image-li9072i5Sudharsan was the chief destroyer for GT [AP Photos]

The biggest match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 had a lot of buzz and it surely lived up to the expectations in the first innings. 

Glorious boundaries, dropped catches and a MSD special stumping, the fans witnessed it all as the Gujarat Titans posted a healthy 214 for 4 on the board in this all-important finale.

Gill-Saha off to a flying start

Wriddhiman Saha and Shubman Gill have been one of the most productive opening duo this season and they proved their worth with yet another fifty run-stand for the opening wicket.

However, the talk of the town was Deepak Chahar, who dropped a sitter at square leg when Gill was batting at 3. He then followed it up with yet another dropped catch off his own bowling, this time of Wriddhiman Saha.

Both the batters made Chahar and CSK pay with breath-taking stroke-play. Gill continued from where he left against Mumbai Indians, and was the aggressor early in the innings. He smashed three boundaries in a row to Tushar Deshpande, and one of them was his trade-mark short-arm jab through mid wicket.

In the process, Gill went past Jos Buttler and became the second highest run-scorer in a single edition of the IPL (just behind Virat Kohli).

However, just when everything was going in GT's way, MS Dhoni took the matters in his own hands and did a MSD trick with a lightning fast stumping to dismiss Gill for 39.


Sudharsan rises to the occasion

Once again GT trusted with Sai Sudharsan at number 3 and the Tamil Nadu batter didn't disappoint. Interestingly, he started slowly, but picked up the pace as the CSK bowlers felt his wrath. On the other hand, Saha continued his fine work and went onto score a crucial fifty in the finals. However, his dream of scoring yet another century in an IPL final was dashed away when the opener was dismissed by Chahar.

Despite Hardik being out there, it was Sudharsan who took the matters in his own hands and seemingly accelerated to cross the 50-run mark. He targeted the CSK spinners with ease and that is where GT edged past in the first innings. Sudharsan departed for 96, but alongside Hardik Pandya (21), he gave the perfect finishing flourish and GT posted a competitive total.