“Chennai Super Kings Cruise into Finals with Dominant Victory over Gujarat Titans”

Chennai: Rituraj Gaekwad’s mature innings, Ravindra Jadeja’s brilliance with the bat and ball, Deepak Chahar’s bowling and fielding excellence… Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s top-of-the-line batting… Chennai Super Kings’ progress from last season’s ninth place to the first finalists of the 16th season has been royal. At the end of the preliminary stage, Dhoni’s team took the ticket to Ahmedabad for their 10th final in front of their home crowd in Chepok by beating defending champions Gujarat Titans in all areas. If they lose but win the second qualifier against the winners of the eliminator, Gujarat can play the second final at home.

Hardik Pandya’s team was crushed by ‘Thala’ and his team for 15 runs. Batting first after losing the toss, Chennai scored 177 runs for seven wickets. Rituraj Gaikwad and Devon Conway, who knew the nature of the pitch in Chepok, gave the team a solid start. Both of them scored 87 runs in 10.3 overs for the opening wicket. The fact that not a single one of those who came in after Conway’s dismissal with 40 off 34 balls proved that the pitch was not very suitable for batting. Shivam Dubey (one), Ajinkya Rahane (17 off 10 balls), Ambati Rayudu (17 off nine balls) and Dhoni (one off two balls) disappointed. Meanwhile, Gaekwad, who shone with a half-century, ensured a flawless score for the team. Gaekwad scored 60 runs off 44 balls with seven fours and one six in his innings. And Jadeja’s innings, which scored 22 runs off 16 balls in the last overs, took Chennai to 172. Only four fours and 14 fours were hit in the Chennai innings.

In the reply batting, Gujarat could not recover from that blow as they lost their first wicket through Wriddhiman Saha (12) with the team score at 22 in the third over. Chennai bowlers tied them up by taking wickets at regular intervals. Hardik Pandya (eight), Dasun Shanaka (17), David Miller (four), Vijay Shankar (14) and Rahul Tewathia (four) returned without much contribution. Centurionist Shubman Gill scored 42 runs off 38 balls. At the tail end, Rashid Khan’s firework also fell short. Rashid hit two sixes and three fours to score 30 runs in 16 balls.

The other batsmen out are Darshan Pewande (nil) and Mohammad Shami (five). Noor Ahmed remained unbeaten with seven runs. Gujarat batsmen managed to hit only five sixes and 13 fours. All five bowlers of Chennai got wickets. Ravindra Jadeja was the best of the bunch conceding only 18 runs in four overs. Deepak Chahar, Matisha Pathirana and Mahish Theeksna also took two wickets each. Tusshar Deshpande got a victim.

‘8-9 months time to take retirement decision’

Chennai: Mahendra Singh Dhoni did not rule out the possibility of playing for Chennai next season as well. Dhoni’s response after the match was that he has about nine months to make a decision. A suitable decision will be made before the December auction. Dhoni also clarified that he will be with Chennai even if he is not a player.