Fiery spells from the visiting pacers and a 97-run partnership between B. Sai Sudharsan and Jos Buttler comfortably carried the Titans across to victory. The eight-wicket win saw GT move up to the fifth slot on the table with CSK dropping to sixth.
At the toss, Gill clearly saw something others didn’t when opting to bowl in the sweltering cauldron of Chepauk. The call was so unexpected that Simon Doull felt compelled to double-check if he had heard the GT skipper right. The Titans doubled down on the surprise by leaving out their leading wicket-taker, Prasidh Krishna, even while fielding an extra seamer.
The bizarrerie of the charade, however, took a nosedive as 17,809 spectators witnessed Mohammed Siraj tying the ball to a string in the very first over. Sanju Samson, beaten four times, needed all of the six deliveries to scrape a single and get off the mark.
With Kagiso Rabada sharing the new ball, there was no respite. Hence, it wasn’t long before Samson threw his arms at a short and wide 148-er that trimmed the outside edge. Urvil Patel, Ayush Mhatre’s replacement in the eleven, fell in the same over.
Sarfaraz Khan, coming in as the Impact Player, failed to create any as he skied the very first delivery for Jos Buttler to settle underneath. By the end of the PowerPlay, CSK’s 28/3 took the third spot on the list of lowest team scores in the ongoing season.
There was nothing A, B, or D about Dewald Brevis’ knock, as he took nine balls to score two before retracing his steps back to the dugout. A deathly hush fell over MAC as the host limped to the slowest team fifty of the 2026 season in 12 overs.
It was then that Gaikwad decided to switch gears, launching three sixes across the 12th and 13th overs. Still the CSK skipper could get to his fifty off only 49 balls. It was a gritty effort that drew applause, although a few reactions may have carried a hint of irony, as it was the slowest IPL half-century in three years.
Rashid Khan’s services weren’t required until the 15th over, the latest he has ever come on in 146 IPL innings. As Shivam Dube-Gaikwad briefly turned the tables, picking 21 runs off the Afghan’s over, Gill might have wondered if giving Rashid the day off would have been the better call.
A cat has nine lives, they say. Dube, dropped on 4, 11, and 22, had three on Sunday. Two of the said opportunities being off Arshad Khan’s bowling, the pacer eventually decided to take matters into his own hands, spearing in a fuller delivery into the stumps.
Dube labelled 158 as “the best score here” at the innings break. Almost making a mockery of the same, GT responded with 55 runs in the first six overs itself.
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Although the mark was three less than the side’s average PowerPlay score this season, the required rate remained well in check. As a result, Gill and Sai Sudharsan were content to play each ball to its merit without forcing the pace.
Anshul Kamboj, sporting the Purple Cap, found some early movement, but GT’s openers chose to quietly negotiate his three-over burst with minimal fuss and collect 16 runs.
The breakthrough came against the passage of play when Samson found the trailing foot of the Titans skipper hanging mid-air in the seventh over.
If batting positions between five and eight are considered, the Titans have the second-worst average runs per wicket (19.18). Buttler and Sai Sudharsan, well aware of these middle-order frailties, chose consolidation over aggression and set up camp in the middle.
A glimmer of hope arrived CSK’s way in the 11th over as Brevis almost pulled off a stunner at the long-on fence. Sai Sudharsan, capitalising on the reprieve and his familiarity with the conditions, followed his hundred up with a fifty.
When he departed for 87, the result was virtually sealed, with GT needing just one hit to finish the chase with more than three overs still in hand.
Published on Apr 26, 2026
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