Chennai Super Kings claimed a record-equalling fifth Indian Premier League (IPL) title with a five-wicket win over Gujarat Titans in a rain-affected but thrilling summit showdown. CSK and the Hardik Pandya-led GT locked horns at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Monday, May 29.
Coming in to bat first after losing the toss, GT got off to a booming start as Shubman Gill and Wriddhiman Saha played brilliant knocks. Gill amassed 39 runs in 20 balls, whereas Saha scored a sensational half-century, accumulating 54 runs in 39 deliveries.
However, the knock of Sai Sudharshan propelled Gujarat to a mammoth total. The 21-year-old batter amassed 96 runs in 47 deliveries and helped the defending champions post 214 runs in the summit clash of the competition.
Chennai got a revised target of 171 runs to chase down in the summit clash in 15 overs. Devon Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad laid a strong foundation for the chase. Conway scored 47 runs in 25 balls, whereas Gaikwad amassed 26 runs in 16 deliveries.
Shivam Dube played an unbeaten knock of 32 runs in 21 balls, with Ravindra Jadeja scoring 15* runs in six deliveries. In a thrilling end to the game, Chennai won the final by five wickets after Jadeja scored the remaining ten runs in the last two balls.
After the massive finish of the 16th season of IPL 2023, the former CSK batter Matthew Hayden selected his IPL team of the tournament.
Not surprisingly, Hayden selected Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the captain of his IPL eleven based on the latter’s leadership skills. Interestingly, Hayden has not given the place to Royal challengers Bangalore (RCB) legend Virat Kohli. it’s noteworthy that Kohli has smashed back-to-back tons in IPL 2023 and becomes the batter with the most IPL centuries. Dube stood strong as the pillar of CSK’s middle order but even he failed to find a place in Hayden’s IPL eleven. Hayden has chosen his eleven while talking to Star Sports.
He has picked Gill and Gaikwad as his opening batters in this team. Faf Du Plessis is his main choice for number three, who has carried the RCB batting in this tournament. MI’s star middle-order batter Suryakumar Yadav has won the number four spot.
Hayden has selected two best all-rounders for his team, Australian Cameron Green from Mumbai Indians (MI) and CSK’s Jadeja.
Regarding the bowling options, Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmed are the two spinners who have bowled brilliantly for Gujarat Titans (GT) this season. Mohammed Shami and Mohit Sharma grabbed the spot for the pace attack.
Matthew Hayden’s playing XI for IPL 2023: Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Faf Du Plessis, Suryakumar Yadav, Cameron Green, Ravindra Jadeja, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c & wk), Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmed, Mohammed Shami, Mohit Sharma.
