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.<\/p>\n
At the toss, Gill clearly saw something others didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
With Kagiso Rabada sharing the new ball, there was no respite. Hence, it wasn\u2019t long before Samson threw his arms at a short and wide 148-er that trimmed the outside edge. Urvil Patel, Ayush Mhatre\u2019s replacement in the eleven, fell in the same over.<\/p>\n
Sarfaraz Khan, coming in as the Impact Player, failed to create any as he skied the very first delivery for Jos Buttler to settle\u00a0underneath. By the end of the PowerPlay, CSK\u2019s 28\/3 took the third spot on the list of lowest team scores in the ongoing season.<\/p>\n
There was nothing A, B, or D about Dewald Brevis\u2019 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Rashid Khan\u2019s services weren\u2019t 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\u2019s over, Gill might have wondered if giving Rashid the day off would have been the better call.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s bowling, the pacer eventually decided to take matters into his own hands, spearing in a fuller delivery into the stumps.<\/p>\n
Dube labelled 158 as \u201cthe best score here\u201d at the innings break. Almost making a mockery of the same, GT responded with 55 runs in the first six overs itself.<\/p>\n