The Indian Premier League 2023 (IPL 2023) season kicked off on March 31 with defending champions Gujarat Titans taking on the MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
After being asked to bat first, Chennai Super Kings scored a total of 178/7 in their allotted 20 overs. Ruturaj Gaikwad starred with the bat, scoring 92 runs off just 50 deliveries. His knock included nine maximums and four boundaries.
Mohammed Shami, Rashid Khan and Alzarri Joseph each picked up a couple of wickets for the home side.
In reply, Wriddhiman Saha and Shubman Gill, the openers for the defending champions, took their team to a good start. Wriddhiman Saha (25 off 16), Sai Sudharsan (22 off 17) and Vijay Shankar (27 off 21) contributed to their team’s success.
However, Shubman Gill made it easy for the Titans with a great performance. He amassed 63 runs off 36 balls before losing his wicket to the bowling of Tushar Deshpande.
Rajvardhan Hangargekar was the pick of the bowlers for CSK, after taking three wickets on his debut. He ended his four-over spell with figures of 3/36. The 20-year-old bowler picked up the wickets of openers Wriddhiman Saha and Shubman Gill, while also dismissing Vijay Shankar off his final over.
IPL 2023: Gujarat Titans with the best points position after match 1 against CSK
Gujarat Titans are currently at the top of the IPL 2023 table by a few points, after winning the match by five wickets. They have a Net Run Rate (NRR) of +0.514 while CSK have a negative NRR after losing their IPL 2023 season opener.
Afghanistan all-rounder Rashid Khan was awarded the man of the match award for his all-round performance. He picked up the wickets of Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes to end his four-over spell with figures of 2/26.
Rashid also hit a four and a six in the penultimate over off the bowling of Deepak Chahar to ease the equation for the Gujarat-based franchise.