AHMEDABAD, India (AP) 鈥� Opening pair Sai Sudharsan and Shubman Gill propelled the Gujarat Titans to a thumping 89-run win over Chennai on Thursday to end the Super Kings鈥� slim playoff hopes in the Indian Premier League.
Sudharsan (84) struck his fifth straight half-century and Gill made 64 in Gujarat鈥檚 imposing total of 229-4 with Jos Buttler smashing an unbeaten 57.
Chennai capitulated for 140 in 13.4 overs and rounded off a below-par season with 12 points from six wins.
Gujarat鈥檚 win ensured its place in qualifier 1 with 18 points from nine wins. The second spot for qualifier 1 will be decided Friday when defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru take on Sunrisers Hyderabad.
鈥淚mportant win and happy to go in (the playoffs) with the momentum we have,鈥� Gill said. 鈥淣eed to maintain intent and impact in the playoffs. After 12 games, we were No. 1 last season, same this time. There was some deja vu but I don鈥檛 think we鈥檝e done much different this season, we鈥檝e been consistently No. 1 or 2.鈥�
Sudharsan and Gill, IPL鈥檚 top two run-scorers this season, provided a blazing start of 125 off 74 balls with Gill scoring a 23-ball half-century before holing out in the 13th over.
Sudharsan looked set for his second century of the season before holing out to long-off in the penultimate over against expensive fast bowler Anshul Kamboj (1-56), but not before the left-hander had shared an 87-run stand off 37 balls with Buttler.
Like Gill, Buttler also raised his half-century off 23 balls with back-to-back boundaries against Kamboj as the Englishman also took on premier spinner Noor Ahmad, who returned with 0-41 of his three overs.
Mohammed Siraj dented Chennai’s top-order inside his first 10 balls when he had Sanju Samson caught behind of the first ball; hit the top of captain Ruturaj Gaikwad鈥檚 off-stump and then Urvil Patel top-edged a pull to deep backward square leg.
Samson had a forgetful last game of the season when he left the field in the second over of Gujarat batting due to a finger injury as he tried to stop Spencer Johnson鈥檚 down the leg side delivery and Kartik Sharma took over the wicketkeeping duties.
Chennai slumped to 29-3 inside the first three overs against Siraj鈥檚 burst and then further slipped to 51-4 when Kagiso Rabada (3-32) had Matthew Short caught at mid-on.
Shivan Dube struck four sixes and four boundaries in his rapid 17-ball knock of 47 before Rashid Khan claimed 3-18 in his two overs and Rabada finished off the innings by claiming the last two wickets off successive balls.
鈥淲hen you鈥檙e chasing 230, it鈥檚 not easy against that bowling attack,鈥� Gaikwad said. 鈥淥ur bowling wasn鈥檛 good in the powerplay (and it was) hard to stop their openers.鈥�
Gaikwad said it was tough season for Chennai in which they lost eight games that included three successive losses against Rajasthan Royals, Punjab Kings and Bengaluru.
鈥淎fter a hat trick of losses first up, we found momentum,” he said as Chennai won six out of the next eight games before losing the last three games. “We found the right spots and combinations, but then were hit by injuries 鈥� we were a batter or bowler short in the last three games.鈥�
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