Chennai Super Kings vs Gujarat Titans, 37th Match, Indian Premier League 2026 - CommentaryCSK vs GT, 37th Match, Indian Premier League 2026 - Commentary

Four 220+ totals yesterday. Today, there was some assistance for the pacers early on and the CSK batters struggled to get going at their home ground. Although he scored at a snail's pace in the first 12 overs, Ruturaj Gaikwad spending some quality time out in the middle and notching up a fifty is a positive for them. Apart from that, nothing much to cheer for them today. GT will be mighty pleased with this performance. This win could have been even more ruthless had they held onto their chances. They climb to the fifth spot with this result. And on that note, it's time to bring the curtains down. The LSG vs KKR game has already commenced and we'll see you there...

Kagiso Rabada | Player of the Match: I actually didn't feel like I started very well today, but that's just how cricket goes. I'm just glad that I could put a result in and play my part in getting the team across the line. I think we really needed to win today. (Found his rhythm?) 100%, yeah. It is, and it's just about maintaining that and staying ahead of the game. So, yeah, it is clicking. (How do you stay ahead of the game?) It's just not taking anything for granted. It's sticking with your process and always looking to improve. The day that you stop looking to improve is the day that you're retired. (On GT's bowling unit) Yeah, a lot of fast bowlers. That's been a clear tactic of GT over the years, playing at Ahmedabad. So it's nice to see the fast bowlers' union coming together. It's been working thus far. We've been taking a lot of wickets. But at the same time, you need to find ways to contain too. So it's been a really, really lovely journey that we've had so far.

Shubman Gill: Really happy. To get a win like that here is always difficult in this part of India, so really happy with the win. (Most complete performance?) Yeah, apart from the last four or five overs of fielding, I think it was a pretty good effort from us out there. Actually, I was a little bit confused whether to bowl first or bat first on this wicket. But I think we bowled pretty well in the powerplay, and powerplay has been one of the areas where consistently we have done well. And if I have to be really critical, finishing the innings has been a little bit of concern for us, and hopefully, in the upcoming matches, we improve on that. (On Rashid bowling just 1 over and Suthar bowling the final over) In the middle when Dube just came in, we were like should we bowl one over of Washi? But we thought the game is in our hands and let's go as deep as possible. Maybe, they are 8 or 9 down and the last overs doesn't matter as much. But yeah, I think he bowled a decent over. I think he gave away 12 or 13 runs in that last over. All in all, I think it was a pretty good effort from us with the ball. (On Sai Sudharsan) He's been batting brilliantly. Even in the innings that he got out in the middle, he was batting beautifully. So with him, it's always a matter of spending that much time on the wicket. And once he's set, he is that kind of a player who can give the maximum reward with minimum risk, and that's his advantage.

- Only the second time across last 11 matches, Gujarat Titans have hit more sixes than their opponents (GT 11 vs CSK 6); the other instance was against DC in Delhi earlier in the season (GT 13 vs DC 8). These are the only two instances of them hitting five or more sixes than their opponents since 2024.

- Titans win with 20 balls to spare is the second biggest against CSK at Chepauk, only behind KKR’s 59-ball win last season chasing 104.

GT in chasing sub-170 targets
Chases 16
Won 14
Lost 2

Sudharsan vs CSK
22 (17)
96 (47)
37 (31)
103 (51)
41 (28)
87 (46)

Sai Sudharsan - I feel very grateful, to be honest, and coming back to home, I'm very happy. I don't have a lot of words to say, but overwhelmed and really enjoyed the crowd today, I was very happy (on playing at home). No, I think, to be honest, just getting the confidence from the last innings and keeping this innings as precious as possible, not thinking that we have got runs or not got runs the way we are feeling. I'm trying to look at it as just a confidence point where I can take some from the last inning and use it for the next inning. I'm not looking whether I'm scoring or not. Just looking at how the game played out. (When asked if the conditions eased out in the second innings) I felt it slightly got better, but first six overs still it was a little difficult to play with, but should we play an extraordinary cameo in the first six, which helped us to be in a good position. (on his batting technique) I think I'm now hitting the ball when it'll naturally play later. It's what my goal is to and I work a lot on that, trying to play later. First few innings I was not in the best rhythm, but once I got the rhythm, it is happening naturally. (on his plans after the match) Definitely. I'll go to my favorite tea shop and spend some time there with some bun maska and chai, hopefully.

Ruturaj Gaikwad (2/2): (On his batting) I got off to a really good start, 10 off 6, and then I just thought, I'll keep that momentum up, but then you saw just three quick wickets fall right in front of you. I thought you need a bit of partnership, as the wicket wasn't playing well. And then after that, we were trying to go on a particular bowler, then again a wicket fell, and then, I thought, okay, let's just take my time, bat and just rotate strike. Any other day or any other pitch, I feel, I would have rotated strike a bit more, but as I said, I was trying and to see that on the scorecard, number of balls and very less number of runs, obviously it is frustrating, but once I got hit, I just thought, I'll just get going. I'll just see how I can change my momentum and even if I get out now, it's still around five, six overs left, so nothing much left. So that was the moment I thought I'd just start going now. (On the impact sub situation) No, I think we were batting really well, so we thought once we cross the power play with one or two down, we would just get a bowler in for the second innings. Mukesh was supposed to come in, but we lost two quick wickets. So I think in the fourth over, we had to get a batter in and then make sure that we get some runs. Unfortunately, it didn't work out, but I think the thought process was really good.

Ruturaj Gaikwad | Losing Captain (1/2) - To be honest, sometimes I hate to assess it in that way, but I really felt it was challenging a bit, especially for the medium pacers, it held up a bit and was two paced. Even the bounce was a bit up and down, but I felt if we hadn't lost too many wickets up front, we would have still reached maybe 170 or 180, that would have been competitive. However, I really doubt that, even after batting powerplay, we just kept coming in. It was a bit difficult to play some shots. (On the pitch) Not expected, to be honest. You know, it's really hard to assess how it's going to play. Last three games we played here, I think we kind of, you know, got to know how it will play or you kind of, you know, we were in a situation where we felt, okay, 60% is going to play like this, 70% is going to play like this, but this game, we didn't have any idea about how it will play and, you know, by the time we wanted to adapt and change, we were too late and then after that, even we wanted, we tried, but it just didn't come off. You know, at the first timeout when Flem (CSK coach Stephen Fleming) came out, I said to be that I'm trying to be positive, I'm trying to be aggressive, but it's just, sometimes I'm waiting. The ball is popping up a bit, and sometimes I'm waiting for, for snowballs, or the ball to come at a pace which the last delivery came, but it just came up a bit too quickly or with a bit more bounce, or a bit less bounce, so I told him I'm trying to change as much as possible, but it's just not happening right at the moment. It was really difficult to change every ball, whether, what would happen, so it was just about judging or expecting that it'll come good, but it just didn't. I would say it was an off day right from ball one, and I also felt we were a bit lethargic in the field. Although they started off really well, we need to put that aside and look forward to the next one.

19:09 IST, 13:39 GMT: Clinical run-chase from Gujarat Titans. Sai, Gill and Buttler - GT's top three - get the job done for the umpteenth time. The skipper set the tone upfront by being aggressive against the CSK bowlers, Sai Sudharsan wasn't too far behind and the visitors scored 55 runs in the powerplay without losing a wicket. Gill was stumped off a wide ball from Noor, thanks to Samson's quick glovework. But CSK failed to exert pressure on the GT post that. Sai Sudharsan didn't allow the CSK spinners to settle. He hit 3 sixes vs Akeal, 7 overall and played a classy knock at his home ground. Buttler was happy to play the second fiddle, punished anything loose and then hit the winning runs. Earlier in the day, after opting to bowl, GT's new ball bowlers were on the money and restricted the Super Kings to 28/3 in the powerplay. Gaikwad batted slowly to weather the storm and then upped the ante towards the end to register his first fifty of the season. CSK score more than 100 runs in the last 8 overs but 162 proved to be insufficient.

Akeal Hosein to Sai Sudharsan, THATS OUT!! Caught!!