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Vijay Shankar Dejected With How Gujarat Titans Went About Their Chase Against CSK


image-li1ftp29Gujarat Titans lost the first Qualifier against CSK [AP Photos]

Yesterday's qualifier 1 match did not go as per plan for the defending champions as Gujarat Titans (GT) lost to Chennai Super Kings by 15 runs. This was the first time GT were bundled out in this year's IPL edition and only the fourth time that they failed to chase in 18 games.

 However, not all is lost for the Gujarat-based franchise as they live to fight another day. They will play the second qualifier on May 27 at home and would certainly be fancying their chances of storming the finals.

GT bowlers featuring the likes of Mohammed Shami and Mohit Sharma bowled well upfront and with some assistance from the spinners, they were able to restrict the Men In Yellow below the 175-run mark.

In reply, once Shubman Gill was dismissed, things started looking very bleak for GT. CSK spinners featuring the likes of Ravindra Jadeja and Maheesh Theekshana squeezed the life out of GT batters as they returned combined figures of 4/46 going at just 5.75 RPO.

The 32-year-old Vijay Shankar reflected on his team's humiliating loss last night. He opined that Gill's departure followed by an unprecedented batting collapse during middle overs allowed CSK to crawl back into the game.

“I think they (CSK) bowled bold pretty well in the middle overs. The middle overs are very, very important for any team that is chasing. We lost wickets. Otherwise, if you see, we lost by 15 runs. If two batters were batting, things would have been different. It is just about losing a wicket at the wrong time. Maybe a partnership of 20, 30 runs in the middle could have got us closer to the game,” 

The GT all-rounder further admits that the team did not apply themselves very well and feels that they could have chased a lot better than what the scoreline suggested.

“I think we could have chased better. We could have got the game much closer,”

GT now has one last shot at getting it right in their upcoming qualifier 2 match at Ahmedabad on May 27.