At the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday May 28, CSK and MS Dhoni will be up against Gujarat Titans (GT) – the defending champions who have a 100 percent record in the IPL playoffs. The Hardik Pandya-led side won the title in their maiden attempt last year.
Gujarat Titans were the most successful team in the league stage of the IPL 2023. They finished with 20 points in 14 matches, three points clear of second and third-placed CSK and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).
GT have also won their last three matches at home and are being considered the favourites to beat CSK at their home turf. However, here are three reasons why CSK will beat GT to equal Mumbai Indians’ (MI) tally of five IPL titles.
GT’s over-dependency on Shubman Gill
Shubman Gill is the leading run-scorer in the IPL 2023. The GT opener has scored 851 runs including three hundreds and four fifties in 16 matches at an average of 60.78 and a strike rate of 156.43. The next highest run-scorer for GT is their captain Hardik who has scored 325 runs at an average of 29.54.
Vijay Shankar is at third with 301 runs at an average of 37.62. No other batters from the team have crossed the 300-run mark. Someone like Rahul Tewatia has played only 57 balls in 16 matches this season.
Once CSK get rid of Gill, GT can find themselves in a spot of bother. Gill is GT’s top-scorer in each of their last four matches. The other batters in the team have found themselves under the shadow of the 23-year-old throughout the season and can find themselves under the pump on the big stage if Gill departs early.
MS Dhoni’s unmatchable leadership acumen
The talismanic leader has to be credited immensely for taking his injury-marred team into the IPL 2023 finals without any major hiccups. CSK finished second in the group stage and then breezed past Gujarat Titans in the Qualifier 1 to enter the final.
Ben Stokes got injured and played only two matches. Their leading pacer Deepak Chahar missed as many as six matches. Kyle Jamieson and Mukesh Choudhary were the other two key players CSK lost ahead of the start of the tournament.
Dhoni did not flinch and worked with the limited resources and marshalled his team against all the odds to the final. Tushar Deshpande with 21 scalps is the joint fourth-highest wicket-taker in the IPL 2023. Matheesha Pathirana is a dreaded death specialist at the moment.
Shivam Dube has been one of the cleanest hitters of the cricket ball this season. Ajinkya Rahane has come all guns blazing under Dhoni’s captaincy. The team is doing wonders.
The Qualifier 1 saw GT looking clueless by the shrewd field placements and bowling changes by Dhoni. On Sunday, Dhoni is expected to come up with another masterplan. GT emerged victorious against CSK at the same venue in the series-opener and Dhoni would be looking to avenge that defeat in the series-decider.
CSK openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway are among the leading run-scorer in the IPL 2023. Conway is fourth on the list with 625 runs, while Gaikwad is seventh with 564 runs. Their opening stands have been one of the highlights for CSK this season.
Dube (386) has been brutal in middle-overs against spin bowling and got good support from Rahane (299 runs) from time to time. Ravindra Jadeja and Moeen Ali – the two left-arm spin bowling all-rounders – will be raring to bring their A-game in the summit clash.
Apart from scoring runs lower down the order at a strike rate of 137.79, Jadeja has also picked 19 wickets at an economy rate of 7.41. Dhoni has batted in 11 innings, remained unbeaten in eight innings and scored 104 runs at a strike rate of 185.71.
These three factors aligned together will definitely see CSK beat GT to win IPL 2023.
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