‘Aava de, humne Chennai ko hara diya’- Fans rejoice as Gujarat crush Chennai by 5 wickets in Indian T20 League 2023 opener

The Indian T20 League is finally here. The first match took place between Chennai and Gujarat at the Narendra Modi Stadium. The Hardik Pandya led side won the toss and chose to bowl first. Chennai did not get off to the best of starts as Devon Conway was sent back with a ripper from Mohammed Shami.

Rituraj Gaikwad made a cracking 92 off 50 balls with four fours and nine sixes. The Maharashtra batter held the Chennai innings together, however, other batters failed to make an impact. Moeen Ali came in at number 3 and made 23 off 17 balls. It was a quick innings but he couldn’t convert that into a big one. The likes of Ben Stokes, Ravindra Jadeja, Ambati Rayudu and Shivam Dube could not get going.

Chennai ended up on 178-7 in their 20 overs. MS Dhoni helped Chennai to get there with a handy 14 off 7 balls in the end. The Gujarat bowlers were under pressure at one stage but they came back well. Shami picked up two scalps for 29 in his four overs. Rashid Khan was economical as ever and he picked up 2-26 in his four overs.

Mohammed Shami picked up 2-29 in his four overs for Gujarat

Alzarri Joseph was slightly expensive but picked up 2-33 in his four over spell. The Gujarat bowlers used the Ahmedabad pitch to their advantage. In the second innings, Wriddhiman Saha made a quick 25 off 17 balls with two fours and two sixes. He was diminished by the young Rajvardhan Hangargekar.

In the second innings, Tushar Deshpande became the first impact player to be used in ITL. He came on in place of Rayudu. Sai Sudharshan made 22 off 17 with three fours. He became Hangargekar’s  second victim. Hardik Pandya made 8 off 11 balls before Ravindra Jadeja got him out.

Shubman Gill was the star of the show for Gujarat. He plundered the Chennai bowlers to all parts and made 63 off 36 balls. The Punjab batter hit six fours and three sixes as his innings pushed the game in Gujarat’s favour. He was dismissed by Deshpande, eventually, with the score was 145-4 and the time-out was called.

Then Chahar and Hanargekar built pressure with two good overs. Vijay Shankar tried to pull Gujarat back into the game with 27 off 21 with two fours and one six. But he was dismissed by the Maharashtrian. Just when things were looking poised, Rahul Tewatia and Rashid Khan took on Deepak Chahar in the 19th over and hit him for 15 runs.

Dehpande had to bowl the final over and 8 runs were needed off 6 balls. The first ball was a wide and the second ball went for six as Tewatia calmed Gujarat’s nerves. He then smashed the third ball for a four helped Gujarat seal a comfortable win.

Let us take a look at the reactions on Twitter: