GT vs CSK IPL 2023 Final Highlights: Five trophies in 14 seasons for CSK, under captaincy of legend MS Dhoni! Chennai Super Kings (CSK) defeated Gujarat Titans (GT) by five wickets (DLS) in a rain-hit thriller to win their fifth IPL title in a row at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Monday (May 29). It was a last-ball finish from Ravindra Jadeja, who hit a four off Mohit Sharma's final delivery to seal a historic win for Chennai. The summit clash was stopped due to heavy rain after which Chennai got a revised target of 171 in 15 overs; 4 overs of powerplay and a maximum of 3 overs per bowler, with both time-outs intact.
CSK were off to an aggressive start with openers Conway and Ruturaj tearing apart GT's star-studded bowling lineup mercilessly. Noor Ahmad helped GT bounce back by dismissing both CSK openers in same over. Ajinkya Rahane, the next man in, hammered some classy fours and sixes to up the run rate. Rahane's partner Dube struggled initially but finally found his momentum in the final Rashid Khan over, hitting him for two sixes. Late flourish from Rayudu, two sixes and a four in 13th over, brought CSK back into the contest. Rayudu got out and Dhoni fell for a first-ball duck. It all went down to 13 CSK needing 13 runs off last 6 balls.
Mohit Sharma bowled four fiery yorkers in the 20th over but then veteran Ravindra Jadeja finished the game off with a six and a four.
Earlier, MS Dhoni won the toss and invited Gujarat Titans to bat first in Ahmedabad. The home team gained upper hand and momentum right from the start of their innings with openers Shubman Gill and Wriddhiman Saha providing a quick start. Chahar dropped Shubman Gill on 2, literally a dolly. After that, Gill went on to hammer some remarkable fours and sixes, helping GT attain 30 runs off the 3rd and 4th over combined.
From here on, GT gained the momentum they wanted to set a big first innings total vs mighty CSK. Jadeja, one of the best fielders of all time, fumbled to miss a run-out chance but in the very same over, he foxed Gill to get CSK their first-ever breakthrough, courtesy of a lightning stumping from legend MS Dhoni.
That missed run-out chance however proved to be too expensive for CSK as Saha went on to score a fifty but it was uncapped Indian batter Sai Sudharsan's batting heroics that was the real game-changer. Sai kept hitting boundaries, irrespective of the bowler he faced. Sadly, he missed out on scoring a well-deserved hundred but did remarkably well.
Chasing the 215-run target in an IPL final was always a mammoth task for CSK. The total set by GT for CSK in first innings is the highest total in an IPL final till date. KKR's chasing down 200 against Punjab in 2014 is the highest total that has been chased in an IPL Final.