Before the start of the Gujarat Titans vs. Chennai Super Kings match, Shubman Gill and Ruturaj Gaikwad were in action. (PTI)
An authoritative and match-winning 63 by Gill and a fruitless but royal 92 by Gaikwad lit up the first day of the IPL-16.
IPL 2023: The defending champion Gujarat Titans began their title defence in much the same manner that they had won it the previous year: with a steely determination. They navigated stressful situations in the end to win by five wickets with four balls remaining. The amazing mastery of Shubman Gill, who is rapidly approaching greatness, also gave off a feeling of déjà vu.
Negligent Gill
In the course of his silky knock on Friday, Gill only made two mistakes, each occurring over the course of four balls. The first time was the first time the new rule was used, when he reviewed a no-ball for height. Up until that point, he had continued much in the same way as he had in the previous six months, during which time he had established himself as an all-format, all-condition cricket player and emerged as the most well-known of the new generation of players who would later shape the game. He has also been given a new nickname by the awestruck commentators: Baby GOAT.
His easy transition to many formats is one of his batting’s many notable qualities. In all genres, he bats essentially the same, albeit with the odd improvisation or extra level of intensity here and there. He had nine hits to the fence, three of which flew over the ropes, and the majority of them would have met Test-standard criteria. Even if it doesn’t matter, there’s something incredibly appealing about a batter using Test cricket’s equipment to get runs in T20 cricket. He punches Tushar Deshpande through the covers while standing on his tiptoes with excitement. For example, the poetic six by Ravindra Jadeja.A batter gliding down the track, arching inside out, opening up his body, and lifting the ball over extra cover is a very uncommon occurrence.
Batsmen are typically hesitant of leaving the crease against one of the shrewdest left-arm spinners around, even though Jadeja doesn’t always bowl as quickly as he previously did—this one was invitingly tossed-up. But Gill did, and if Rashid Khan had been countering him, he would have been struck as well. Right now, I can’t resist his form.
He provided assurance and acceleration because he was both an anchor and an attacker. Few could balance the two roles so naturally. Gill could, for sure. He continued to pursue 179 aggressively, picking up a tonne of boundaries whenever the necessary run rate seemed to increase. Although he did not complete the chase, his toe-ending pull to deep mid-wicket caused his teammates to get uneasy.The game was won by the unnerved Rashid Khan, who scored 10 runs off just two balls in the penultimate over, and the cool-headed Rahul Tewatia, who hit a six and a four in the final over.
Dreamy Gaikwad
The audience went wild as there was a throwback MS Dhoni six. Dhoni whacked Josh Little over square on the third delivery of the final over, snarling his chiselled forearms and recoiling his Hercules-like shoulders. Little is an Irish left-arm seamer. As the amphitheater-like venue roared in celebration, he skinned the following ball past midwicket, forgetting his allegiance to his home team. No one, 16 years and counting, transcends IPL allegiances like Dhoni does.
The crowd’s favourite memory of the game would be the Dhoni cameo, which resulted in 14 off seven. Nevertheless, Ruturaj Gaikwad set the stage with a quick and elegant 92 off 50 balls. He proved that he could once again be an unstoppable force by fusing grace and power. The domestic cricket devotee wouldn’t be too shocked, given he has been in excellent form this season. Last year, he was the driving force behind Maharashtra’s record-breaking run to the Vijay Hazare Trophy final. He collected 660 runs at a 220 batting average and a 113.5 strike rate, accentuated by four hundreds, including an unbroken 220.Even though his performance in international cricket was forgettable (eight innings, 135 runs), he demonstrated that he could not be disregarded.
The majority of Gaikwad’s nine sixes and four fours came from his beautiful drives, forceful pulls, luscious lofted drives, and swats over square-leg in this knock of the 2021 vintage. From the first boundary he struck, a delightful punch through mid-on, finding the spot with a late turn of his wrists, to his last stroke of polished fury, a waft over long-on off Rashid Khan’s googly, there is a smoothness about his stroke-making that melts everything around him. The fact that Khan is also efficient has become a cricketing axiom. Khan was the Titans’ most devastating bowler.
The rest of the Titans’ bowling staff, though, would swear to Gaikwad’s non-violent destruction and possibly ponder why he was unable to break the rules of international cricket.
Sadly, Alzarri Joseph, the cunning Antiguan fast. Apart for the three sixes Gaikwad hit, all in the eighth over, he had a satisfying day overall. Although CSK was already cruising at nine runs per over, Gaikwad wasn’t in the mood to relax. Even when Joseph had slightly erred onto the pads, Gaikwad was still able to square-leg him. Although it was a fierce stroke, in Gaikwad’s hands it appeared to be merely a delicate brushstroke. Joseph threw one at him at 91 mph, furious. When the bowler again erred on the leg side, he blocked, but He took advantage of him over square-leg to complete a 23-ball fifty. Gaikwad pulled Joseph imperiously through midwicket as an enraged Joseph smacked in another short ball. Since none of the Titans’ bowlers had the pace or aggression to frighten him, Gaikwad appears to have fixed the supposed weakness that had previously been exposed by strong hard-length predators. But, he still faces a more difficult test.
Wickets dropped around him—Moeen Ali’s 23 was the next-best score—but he never changed his aggressive behaviour. Apart for the superb new-ball-armed Mohammed Shami, who hammered Hardik Pandya for two sixes and a four, no one was spared. Little too received similar treatment. Nonetheless, Gill ultimately defeated Gaikwad’s knock.
