The Spanish club has said that it will not lift its players' obligations to the club in favour of their participation in the Paris Games
New Zealand's Rachin Ravindra hit an explosive 46 and took three catches to help holders Chennai Super Kings to their second straight IPL win with a 63-run thrashing of Gujarat Titans on Tuesday.
The left-handed Ravindra, in his debut IPL season, made his runs off 20 balls while captain Ruturaj Gaikwad also hit 46 as Chennai posted 206-6 at their home M.A. Chidambaram Stadium.
Seam bowlers Mustafizur Rahman, Deepak Chahar and Tushar Deshpande took two wickets each to help restrict Gujarat, led by Shubman Gill, to 143-8 and go down to their biggest IPL loss by runs.
"Today's game was near to a perfect game, in the sense of batting-bowling-fielding, all three departments," said Gaikwad.
"Against a team like Gujarat, we had to produce this kind of performance."
Chennai's Shivam Dube top-scored with his 51 off 23 deliveries to boost the total after Ravindra and Gaikwad gave the team a quick start in their opening stand of 62.
Old warhorse M.S. Dhoni shocked his fans ahead of the T20 tournament when he passed on the Chennai captaincy to Gaikwad after he had led the team to their fifth IPL title last year.
Gaikwad, who led the team to a win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL opener last week, survived an early reprieve on one and made use of the spill.
Gaikwad is learning the leadership ropes under Dhoni's mentorship as the 42-year-old former skipper, who took a diving catch as wicketkeeper to dismiss Vijay Shankar, kept guiding the new captain throughout the game.
The left-handed Ravindra remained defiant and clubbed three sixes and six fours.
Gujarat's Afghanistan spin wizard Rashid Khan denied Ravindra his fifty as the leg-spinner had the batsman stumped while Gaikwad fell caught behind off Australia's Spencer Johnson.
Dube, who was named man of the match, reached his fifty in 22 balls before he fell in the 19th over to Rashid, who took two wickets but leaked 49 runs.
Gujarat, who won a title in their debut IPL season in 2022 and ended runners-up in 2023, were never in the chase after they lost Gill lbw off Chahar.
Gill took charge of the team and won his opening match on Sunday after Hardik Pandya switched to Mumbai Indians for another captain's role.
"Lot of new learnings, new experiences and different things," said Gill.
"It's exciting to captain a team like Gujarat Titans, we've made it to the finals in the last couple of years so very exciting."
The final of the lucrative T20 tournament will be played in Chennai on May 26.
Brief scores
CSK 206/6 (Shivam Dube 51, Rachin Ravindra 46; Rashid Khan 2-49) vs GT 143/8 (Sai Sudharsan 37; Deepak Chahar 2-28, Tushar Deshpande 2-21).
ALSO READ:
The Spanish club has said that it will not lift its players' obligations to the club in favour of their participation in the Paris Games
The GEM’s Wellington School teenager who admits to playing well at the Al Zorah Golf Club juggles studies with golf
The 41-year-old, who has taken 700 Test wickets and is behind only Muralitharan (800) and Warne (708) on the all-time list, will retire from Test cricket after playing the West Indies at Lord's in July
Historic inaugural season of the Professional Fighters League showcased contests in the Bantamweight and Featherweight divisions
Opener Andy Balbirnie anchored the Irish innings with 77 off 55 balls including 10 boundaries
The duo put on 210 runs for the first wicket before Mohit Sharma delivered the finishing blow with a three-wicket haul at Ahmedabad
The Gunners have gathered three points to temporarily open up a four-point lead over Pep Guardiola's side at the top of the table
Karim expressed her happiness at winning the medal, which added to the previous achievements of Emirati champions