Cricket Indian Premier League Prediction

Chennai Super Kings vs Gujarat Titans - Match Preview

🏏 23 May 2023 - 14:00 GMT +0

With the group stage of the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) complete and only four games remaining in the tournament, all eyes are now on the playoff stage. The opening match of the playoffs sees the top two sides go head to head with Gujarat Titans (ten wins, 20 points) taking on Chennai Super Kings (eight wins, 17 points) in Qualifier 1 on Tuesday evening. The winner of this game advances directly to Sunday’s final in Ahmedabad with the loser having another opportunity to reach the final via Friday’s Qualifier 2.

This fixture will be played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, where the hosts have won four out of seven games this year. The venue had been booked in advance for the first two playoff matches, inadvertently giving the Super Kings home advantage despite finishing lower than Gujarat. For the Titans, it shouldn’t hurt their chances after winning six of their seven away games this season. They come into this clash in fine form with seven victories from their last nine. Although they conceded 197-5 against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Sunday, they didn’t lose their second wicket until the 15th over and got home with five balls to spare.

Shubman Gill has been Gujarat’s standout batter across this campaign and is averaging 56.67 with a strike rate of 152.47. Since making his IPL debut in 2018, Gill has bettered his previous season’s total of runs each time, and this year he has already hit 197 more runs than in 2022. No other player for the Titans has amassed more than 290 runs in this campaign, which really highlights how important Gill’s 680 have been. In Mohammed Shami and Rashid Khan, Gujarat Titans have the top two wicket-takers in the competition. Shami’s 24 wickets have come at an average of 17.66 and his strike rate of 13.75 is slightly superior to Rashid’s at 14.00. His stats are all the more impressive as he is the only pace bowler of the top five wicket-takers in the 2023 IPL.

Chennai Super Kings arrived in the playoffs with wins in three of their last four and they confirmed their spot in this stage of the competition with an eye-catching 77-run victory over Delhi Capitals on Sunday. However, after three previous attempts - all of which they batted first in - they are still searching for their first win over Gujarat Titans! At the top of the order, Devon Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad were dominant for Chennai and their opening wicket partnership of 141 went a long way to securing the big victory over Delhi. Alongside RCB, CSK is the only other team to have two batters in the top 10 run scorers, with Conway hitting six half-centuries, including 87 of 52 on Sunday.

Deepak Chahar was the standout bowler in Delhi as he took 3-22 as all five of the bowlers used by CSK picked up at least one wicket. Chahar is in fine form and has taken 10 wickets from his last four games, including three dismissals in each of his last two matches. Tushar Deshpande is CSK’s leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 20 dismissals, but he has gone wicketless in the last two matches in Chepauk.

⚡ Players to watch: Since starting the year with scores of 7 and 5 in international cricket, 2023 has been incredible so far for Shubman Gill. He is averaging 61.25 from 18 international innings in 2023 and has carried that form into the IPL. Gill has hit a century in his last two innings and has scores of 104*, 101 and 94* from three of his last four visits to the crease.

Three of Devon Conway’s six half-centuries in this campaign have come at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, including his highest IPL score of 92* against Punjab Kings. He has scored 350 runs at an average of 70 and a strike rate of 135.14 in Chepauk in the 2023 IPL.

📋 Stat attack: Chennai recorded the highest opening partnership in ten games this season, including six of the seven at home.

• They also struck the most sixes ten times, whilst Gujarat did so only four times.
• Gujarat took the most wickets (7.43 per innings) at the best economy rate (8.39rpo) during the league stage.
• Ravindra Jadeja to Wriddhiman Saha in the IPL: 2-29 from 31 balls.
• Rashid Khan to Ruturaj Gaikwad in the IPL: 2-66 from 45 balls.
• Moeen Ali scores at 9.08rpo against the bowling of Rashid Khan in the IPL, but has been dismissed four times in 6.1 overs.
• Shubman Gill has finished as Gujarat Titans’ highest run scorer six times this season.
• A Chennai bowler returned the best figures (wickets followed by economy rate) in ten of their 14 matches this season.
• In each of his six IPL appearances at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Rashid Khan has bowled his full allocation of four overs and has gone wicketless only once.