GT vs CSK, IPL 2023 Highlights: Gujarat start title defence with a win, beat Chennai by 5 wickets

Hangargekar drops it short, Shankar picks it up. It is a tiny ground and so it flies over the boundary. How GT needed that, they need 23 to win off 14!

Just four runs off that 17th over and so that increases the required rate to exactly 10 for GT. These last few overs could be a see-saw game.

GT have kept this innings going at a good click and that four off the third ball of the last over kept that going but CSK will smell a chance here. Deepak Chahar comes in and he would be looking to be giving around 4-5 runs this over which will make things interesting indeed.

Shankar hits a slow length ball from Santner between long leg and deep extra cover. Stokes and Conway come in and then seem to slow down thinking the other is going to stop it. The ball ends up reaching the boundary. GT keeping pressure on CSK.

Holes out at deep midwicket. Gill's attempted pull goes off the toe end while trying to get it from wide outside off. That's a first wicket for an impact player.

Gill c Gaikwad b Deshpande 63 (36), GT 138/4 in 15 overs

Top edge for Gill and that goes to the boundary. Gill has moved to 56 off 33 balls.

Hagargekar digs it in short, Shankar pulls it right in the gap between long leg and deep square.

Gujarat in serious trouble now. Pandya sweeps around off, Jadeja tries to hit the top of off. Jadeja wins that battle as Pandya misses it completely and the GT captain have to go.

Pandya b Jadeja 8 (11), 111/3 in 12 overs

Single as Gill cuts it to deep cover. Half century in just 30 balls, what an innings Gill is playing here.

Jadeja fires the fifth ball of the 11th into the pads and Gill sweeps it to beat short fine leg. Then Gill smashes the last ball over extra cover for a six. He moves to 49.

GT need 86 to win from 60. Gill on 38 off 26, captain Hardik Pandya on three off as many. It is just Rahul Tewatia and Vijay Shankar after this who are the recognised batters after which comes the incredibly long tail starting with Rashid Khan.

Wide delivery from Hangargekar seemed to surprise Sudarshan. He chases after it and edges it to Dhoni. What a debut this is turning out to be for Hangargekar despite the terrible start to his first over. 

Sudharsan c Dhoni b Hangargekar 22 (17), GT 90/2 in 9.3 overs

GT 89/1 in 9 overs. Sudarshan looked set to get another four after sending one past short fine. But Conway slides to his left and stops the ball from reaching the boundary with his foot. Sliding tackled the boundary out of play. 

The impact player Sai Sudarshan is doing a great job here. Too short from Santner, Sudarshan pulls between deep backward square and deep mid.

Fairly good over from Santner but two fours in the over has resulted in nine coming from that over. GT have got off to a flier really, going at over 10 while the required rate is just over 8.

Deshpande goes on a length around middle and leg and Gill stays rooted to his spot and smacks it over deep midwicket almost nonchalantly.

Kane Williamson is injured and Sudarshan has been brought on so this is more of a forced change for GT. Shame for Williamson, he has gone on a bit of a century spree in Test cricket after seemingly putting his long standing elbow issues behind him. Hope this is not the start of another injury saga.   

What a roller coaster this is for Hangargekar. Outswinger, Saha gets a thick edge and Shivam Dube takes a great catch at deep third.

Saha c Dube b Hangargekar 25 (16), GT 37/1 in 3.5 overs

Short from Rajvardhan Hangargekar and Saha swivels away to send it to the boundary. Not the greatest of starts for the young fast bowler. His second ball was a no ball and then the free hit is sent wide then the four. That's six off the first two despite the first ball being a dot. The first ball, in fact, was a great yorker that led to a big shout from CSK for LBW. Umpire said no and the Dhoni Review System aggreed. 

Chahar goes short to Saha, the GT opener just swivels away and pulls him into the stands. Chahar had kept a check on them so far because of the swing he was generating but Saha punishes him as soon as he goes short.

That is ridiculous from Gill. Short of a length from Deshpande but Gill stays on the front foot and somehow hits almost a forehand smash through midwicket.

Some early luck there for Wriddhiman Saha off the Impact Player Tushar Deshpande. Massive leading edge but it flies over deep third.

A single and a double off the fourth and fifth balls did the job there for GT. 

Chahar is bowling the first over, Wriddhiman Saha facing up with Shubman Gill at the other end. Chahar steams in, and presents a dummy first up! Completes his action but doesn't release the ball. 

Ambati Rayudu has been taken off for Tushar Deshpande. An extra seamer on for CSK. 

Wow, Hussey will be left with some eggs on his face if that happens but for now, Stokes is holding the ball and making actions akin to a warm-up. However, Deepak Chahar runs to the middle without his cap on so it might be him bowling the first over.   

"Ridiculous" is what Chris Gayle had to say about Shivam Dube coming ahead of Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni. It was him being unable to really get going, coupled by a strange slowing down from Gaikwad, that stopped CSK from continuing at the rate they were going at which made it look like they could score well over 200. On this wicket, this total does look underwhelming.

“It's a score which is great to have. Little disappointed. Should've got 15-20 more. Ruturaj was outstanding. It was a decent pitch once you went through your first 5-6 balls. Chennai support has always been outstanding. When I was batting, it felt like the loudest crowd I've experienced in my career.”

Gujarat Titans might just be the happier of the two teams here. This looks like a very good wicket and then there is the dew that has to be factored in. No Impact Player drama so far but thoughts go to Kane Williamson, who had to be helped off the field after injuring himself with a sensational fielding effort. Gaikwad would have become the first since Brendon McCullum in the first ever IPL match to have scored a century in the first match of a season but he fell on a brilliantly constructed 92 off 50 balls. 

Pitched up again and Dhoni sends it legside once again. He has raced tom 13 off 5 and that's 12 runs off the first four balls of the last.

Pitched up a little bit from Little, Dhoni swivels and sends it flying over backward square leg. 

MS Dhoni on strike in the last over of the innings. Josh Little bowling to him. This might be interesting. 

Mis-hit from Dube and he is caught at deep square leg. Santner comes in next, CSK bat deep indeed.

Dube c Rashid Khan b Mohammed Shami 19 (18), CSK 163/7 in 18.3 overs

Dube pulls out in the last minute as Shami steamed in for the second ball and the fast bowler just continues on and bowls it to the keeper, shwoing some frustrating. The short ball is next and Dube smacks it into the stands.

And almost gets a wicket off the first ball of that. Short from Shami, Dube gets a top edge on his pull shot. Saha runs back and dives forward but doesn't quite get there. Fantastic effort from the wicketkeeper there. CSK 155/6 in 18 overs. 

Caught at the ropes at deep midwicket! Jadeja cramped for room and Joseph gets two wickets in the over. That also leads to a big cheer from everywhere in the stands because MS Dhoni walks out now. What a comeback this has been from GT. 

Jadeja c Shankar b Joseph 1 (2), CSK 153/6 (17.4 Ov)

Joseph misses out on the yorker, it goes full toss and Gaikwad tries to hit it over long-on. However, he ends up getting caught over there with Gill diving forward. Umpires go upstairs to check the height. It looked like the ball was too high but replays show that it was below waist. An extraordinary innings comes to an end but Alzarri Joseph is never easy to hit in the death overs. 

Gaikwad c Shubman Gill b Joseph 92 (50), CSK 153/6 (17.4)

Gaikwad has moved to 92 off 49. That is well over half of CSK's score. However, GT coach Gary Kirsten did say that they would be happy if they can restrict CSK to below 200 on this pitch. For now, 200 seems very far away for CSK, them slowing down in these last few overs has hurt them.

Gaikwad smacks it over long-on to finally get a much needed big shot. One does wonder why it is that Jadeja and Dhoni are sitting in the dugout while the struggling Dube is in the middle on 8 off 11.