Cricket was at its phenomenal best at the MCA Stadium as Chennai Super Kings and the Gujarat Titans played out an absolute thriller for the ages to come. The pendulum wouldn’t just stop swinging till the last moment as both sides clawed hard at each other and entertainment was at its peak in Pune.
The Titans were without their regular captain, Hardik Pandya and their stopgap skipper, Rashid Khan won the toss and opted to bowl first. Robin Uthappa who haunted the Royal Challengers Bangalore in their preceding game couldn’t get off to a start as Mohammed Shami came knocking.
Alzarri Joseph produced an absolute peach to extend Moeen Ali’s dismal run to another game as he removed the English all-rounder for just a single. It was seasoned campaigner, Ambati Rayudu who came ahead of Shivam Dube for this match and carved an impeccable 46 from just 31 balls that also played the all-important anchor to Ruturaj Gaikwad’s crucial 73, ushering Chennai Super Kings to 169 for 5.
Surprisingly, Gujarat’s chase hit an unexpected snag straightaway as Mukesh Choudhary and Maheesh Theekshana dealt a deafening double whammy, crippling the Titans early in the hunt. Despite Wriddhimaan Saha and Abhinav Manohar’s desperate attempt to keep the ship afloat, the mountain was too daunting to gauge for the Titans as Ravindra Jadeja and Maheesh Theeksana struck at both ends to remove Saha and Manohar, opening doors for an incoming David Miller, currently labelled as a shadow of his former scintillating self.
A glimpse at the mad resurgence of the Gujarat Titans
Only if Chennai was aware of the forthcoming menace that awaited them, they probably would have braced themselves better. Joining forces with Rahul Tewatia whose job was to only hang in the middle, David Miller stepped foot on the gas, peppering the Chennai bowlers to every single nook and cranny of the continent.
After Tewatia was gone, he was joined by GT’s makeshift captain, Rashid Khan and the duo stitched together the all-important match-defining partnership that ushered the Titans to the gateway of glory before that slight shuffle of momentum just ahead of the 19th over.
Rashid Khan took out Chris Jordan for a staggering 25 runs in a single over that pruned down the equation in the batter’s favour. He also smashed 7 important runs in the first two balls of Dwayne Bravo’s 19th over before the Caribbean all-rounder got two scalps to blow back some life into the game.
Chris Jordan pulled off a couple of dots to make the chase more interesting as David Miller was in no mood to give away the strike to Lockie Ferguson. However, the third ball of the over was sailed beyond the ropes by Miller that almost giving away his intentions of going big in the last three.
The following ball produced momentary drama as Miller holed out to Mukesh Choudhary who plucked out a decent low take and the Super Kings started with their celebrations only to be jolted to a rude awakening as the ball was clearly above waist height. In the following free-hit, Miller perfectly sliced the gap on the leg-side as Gujarat levelled the scores.
In a much more dramatic end to the electric, Miller and Lockie Ferguson pushed for a double with one ball to spare where a quick work from Chris Jordan gave Chennai hope. But the third-umpire review showed that Lockie Ferguson’s desperate dive, in the end, sealed the game for the Titans as they stayed afloat at the top of the points table with their fifth win of the campaign.
Twitter was thrilled at the cricketing brilliance that unfolded in Pune and at the same time the Chennai fans were simply dejected beyond measure to see their beloved side slump down to the fifth defeat of the campaign.
Me watching Miller back in THE "Killer Miller" form where he bashed RCB bowlers! #CSKvsGT #GTvCSK #GTvsCSK #CSKvGT pic.twitter.com/0DZHi22v5x
— Abhishek Tripathi (@abhithecomic) April 17, 2022
Killer Miller!!!!
He came to back when #GujaratTitans were at 16 for 3 and then he played an incredible innings and led GT to victory with the help of Rashid Khan. This innings reminds me of his match winning century vs RCB in 2013. #DavidMiller #GTvsCSK #CSKvsGT #TATAIPL pic.twitter.com/hZAq0Yl00N
— Prateem Bhattacharjee 🇮🇳🚩 (@PBTheBanglaBoy) April 17, 2022
Advertisement
David Miller doing a 2013 Miller vs RCB?
— A (@kxipszn) April 17, 2022
Advertisement
David Miller is going to recreate that innings against RCB against CSK today.
— . (@chessearentboi) April 17, 2022
Advertisement
David Miller is the hero for Gujarat Titans.
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) April 17, 2022
Advertisement
Best knock of this IPL
Take a bow David Miller— R A T N I S H (@LoyalSachinFan) April 17, 2022
Advertisement
Fantastic innings David Miller @gujarat_titans But you feel for Chennai for that was a marginal no ball. Was their game. This was a real Killer Miller show.
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) April 17, 2022
Advertisement
Rahul Tewatia. David Miller. Rashid Khan. The Gujarat Titans lower middle order is so good that Hardik Pandya bats at four. Occasionally missing a game not a bad idea either.#CSKvsGT
Advertisement— Rahul Pandey (@sportstoryguy) April 17, 2022
What a superb knock by David Miller…….another instance now when he has single handedly took his team to win, yes there was a contribution of Rashid Khan but Miller made it possible. Wonderful inngs by a terrific player 👏🏼👏🏼🔥🔥 #IPL #CSKvsGT
— Sanskar Gemawat (@_SanskarG) April 17, 2022
Advertisement
