18 April,2022 06:54 AM IST | Pune | Shreeram Gokhale
Ruturaj Gaikwad en route his 73 v Gujarat Titans. Pic/BCCI; IPL
Chennai Super Kings opener Ruturaj Gaikwad, who hails from Pune, had urged the crowd to come in large numbers and support the Chennai outfit ahead of their IPL 2022 league game against the Gujarat Titans. On Sunday evening, most of the 20,000-plus crowd did exactly that, and Gaikwad himself gave them plenty to cheer about, as his first half-century of the season propelled CSK to 169 for 5 after being put in to bat. At the time of going to press, Gujarat Titans were 45-3 in seven overs with Wriddhiman Saha and David Miller batting on 10 and 17 respectively.
It was a classical Gaikwad show on his home ground, as the skinny opener paced his knock very well. It was quite evident right from the beginning that Gaikwad had set himself to bat the majority part of the innings. His swatted left-arm pacer Yash Dayal over the square-leg fence in the fourth over to make his intentions clear. Gaikwad's five sixes and five fours in a 48-ball 73-run knock was major reason for the CSK team get past the 160-run mark. His 55-ball 92-run stand with Ambati Rayudu helped Chennai make a strong comeback after being reduced to 39 for 2 at the end of Powerplay.
Gujarat Titans players celebrate the wicket of CSK's Moeen Ali
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Rayudu played his role to perfection in a 31-ball 46-run knock (4x4, 2x6). The pair smashed 58 runs off 24 balls (between over No.11 and 14) to set a perfect launching pad for a challenging total. After Rayudu's dismissal, Titans pulled things back a bit, conceding only 26 runs in the four slog overs (Over No.16 to 19). A couple of sixes from skipper Ravindra Jadeja over the mid-wicket fence in the last over, bowled by Lockie Ferguson, helped Chennai to 169; 18 runs coming off the last over.
Titans replaced injured skipper Hardik Pandya with West Indian pacer Alzari Joseph and played wicketkeeper Wridhiman Saha in place of Aussie Mathew Wade. While Saha for Wade is a like-for-like replacement, Joseph for Pandya meant Titans went into the game a batsman short.
Brief scores
CSK 169-5 in 20 overs (R Gaikwad 73, A Rayudu 46; A Joseph 2-34) v GT (scores incompolete
