Wriddhiman Saha starred with an unbeaten 67 as Gujarat Titans completed a comfortable seven-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings in match 62 of the IPL 2022 at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.
Chennai Super Kings 133/5 in 20 overs
Mohammed Shami found the outside edge of Devon Conway's bat early with a ball that straightened, and Saha held an easy catch. But Chennai made a good recovery in power-play as Ruturaj Gaikwad and Moeen Ali took 32 runs off the last two overs of Powerplay. On a sluggish pitch, Gaikwad began really well for his 49-ball 53 but slowed down as the innings progressed. Gaikwad and Ali shared a stand of 57 runs off 39 balls before left-arm spinner Sai Kishore got Moeen, who mistimed a slog sweep to deep mid wicket.
N. Jagadeesan (39* in 33) then took Chennai 133/5. For Gujarat, Shami picked up 2-19, while Rashid Khan, Alzarri Joseph and Sai Kishore got a wicket apiece.
Gujarat Titans 137/3 in 19.1 overs
Saha got Gujarat off to a brisk start in pursuit of 134, hitting three fours off Mukesh Choudhary in the opening over. In Choudhary's next over, Saha was dropped on 21 by Gaikwad at a point. He did not look back. He pulled Simarjeet Singh over deep mid wicket for six in the fifth over, and followed it with a thumping drive over the bowler's head for four.
Matheesha Pathirana bagged his maiden IPL wicket with a full, pacy delivery that hit him low on the pad as Shubman Gill attempted to flick. Gill reviewed, but was unable to overturn the decision. That ended the 59-run opening partnership.
Matthew Wade got going with a brace of fours off Pathirana, but fell while trying to loft against Moeen in the 12th over and mistiming to long on. Two overs later, Pathirana got his second wicket when his off cutter took the leading edge off Hardik Pandya's attempted flick and flew to mid on.
Saha, meanwhile, hung around to reach his third fifty of the season, in 42 balls. He shared an unbeaten 37-run stand with David Miller to take Gujarat past the finishing line. Fittingly, he hit the winning runs, guiding one past short third off Pathirana to give another convincing win to Gujarat.
Brief scores
Chennai Super Kings 133/5 in 20 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 53; Mohammed Shami 2-19) against Gujarat Titans 137/3 in 19.1 overs (Wriddhiman Saha 67; Matheesha Pathirana 2-24) by 7 wickets with 5 balls to spare. Player of the Match: Wriddhiman Saha.