Chennai Super Kings (CSK) beat the Gujarat Titans (GT) by 15 runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) Qualifier 1 to book a place for themselves in the final. While CSK were asked to bat first, they ended up posting 172/7. 

Ruturaj Gaikwad (60 off 44) was the stand-out performer with the bat from the Men in Yellow but a 40 off 34 from Devon Conway and a few crucial cameos in the context of the game from Ambati Rayudu (17 off 9), Ajinkya Rahane (17 off 10) and Ravindra Jadeja (22 off 16) were equally important to help CSK post what seemed like a par-score on the surface.

In the run chase, GT had their moments but lost their way when the required run rate surged and no one partnership could only long enough to force CSK to think differently. Eventually, Chennai won the match by 15 runs with GT getting bowled out for 157. After his contribution with the bat, Jadeja returned to finish as the pick of the bowlers (2/18).

It was a clinical bowling performance from the Men in Yellow with Maheesh Theekshana (2/28), Deepak Chahar (2/29) and Matheesha Pathirana (2/39) also sharing a couple of wickets apiece and Tushar Deshpande conceding 43 but also finding a wicket against his name.

This will be CSK's tenth appearance in an IPL final in fourteen seasons. On the other hand, Gujarat, for whom Gill top-scored with 42 off 38 while Rashid Khan made things interesting towards the end with 30 off 16, will play the winner of the Elimiantor between Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Mumbai Indians (MI). 

Among the other positives for GT was the performance of Mohammed Shami (2/28) and Mohit Sharma (2/31). However, Hardik Pandya continued to keep himself away from bowling after he sustained a back spasm in the match against Mumbai Indians (MI). Noor Ahmed (1/29), Rashid Khan (1/37) and Darshan Nalkande (1/44) all finished with a wicket against their name.

While Nalkande had got Gaikwad out in the second over of the CSK innings, it was later confirmed to be a no-ball and Gaikwad survived, a result which clearly made an impact on the match with the Chennai opener making it count by getting the Player of the Match recognition.