Gujarat Titans vs Chennai Super Kings, 66th Match, Indian Premier League 2026 - CommentaryGT vs CSK, 66th Match, Indian Premier League 2026 - Commentary

With this massive win Gujarat Titans are confirmed of a top two finish. It’s an excellent response from them after the defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders. They are now back to winning ways and have made it six victories from their last seven matches - serious momentum heading into the playoffs. For Chennai Super Kings, this was ultimately a season heavily disrupted by injuries. Even before the tournament began, they lost Nathan Ellis. MS Dhoni was never fully fit enough to feature, while players like Khaleel Ahmed, Ayush Mhatre and Jamie Overton - all important parts of their setup - were ruled out at different stages of the campaign. Despite all of that, CSK still remained in the playoff race right until the closing stages of the league phase and that may well be the biggest positive they take away from this season. That’s all from this game. Tomorrow, we have Sunrisers Hyderabad taking on Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Do join us for that clash. Until next time, goodbye and stay safe..

Mohammed Siraj | Player of the Match (translated from Hindi): (on how the ball is coming out of his hand) Yes, it’s feeling really good. Before the IPL, around the World Cup time, I was out of quite a few matches, so I worked a lot on myself, especially on my release. In the first three or four matches, I was missing that match rhythm. Then I realised what I had been doing wrong, watched my videos again, and that confidence came back. Right now, the ball is coming out very well from the hand. (how does he prepare for a game?) In practice, I start with the new ball to understand how my rhythm is and whether my line and length are right. Once I get that feeling, I bowl two or three overs focusing on yorkers. Overall, I try to practice exactly what I might need during the match. (what was the plan for Sanju?) On the red-soil, I always think that even if I concede a boundary (driving) on the first ball while trying something to Sanju, it’s okay. In the last match too in Chennai when we played against them, he was getting beaten, so I thought I’d bowl it slightly fuller and a little wider. What I planned, I executed well, and I got the wicket too. (on the partnership with Rabada) My mindset is always the same - when I bowl in the powerplay, I want to build pressure from my end. If I get a wicket from that, good. If not, I still don’t try anything unusual. I just stay consistent in one area and keep building pressure. If Rabada gets wickets because of the pressure I create, then that’s our bowling partnership. That’s our plan - to bowl together as a unit. (body is good?) Touchwood, so far, the body feels good, and I’m really enjoying it.

Shubman Gill | GT captain: "Yeah, very important, going into the playoffs, so very happy to go with the momentum that we have. (the win at Delhi, was a bit of a turning point? After that, this team just didn't look back?) Yeah, definitely, but, like, if I look at the games, even the first two games that we played, they were pretty close, so we knew that we are playing very competitive cricket. It's just about adding that extra 5%, and luckily we got that in the Delhi game, and we haven't looked back since. (what makes GT's bowlers so much more impactful than visiting bowlers here in Ahmedabad?) I think it's all about hitting the lengths consistently, and that the odd one, odd good balls are on this kind of wicket, gonna go over the rope. It's about backing yourself and still hitting those lengths on the wicket which are difficult to hit. (on his batting) Yeah, definitely very happy with the way I'm batting, was... of course, every time you get out, you always think you could have done something differently, but yeah very pleased with how I'm batting. (on the catching) Yeah, it was much better than the last one. Hopefully, we continue to do this. (on the celebrations after the Dube catch) No, nothing. When you're playing such a high-emotion game, sometimes your emotions do come out. So, it was one of those moments for me. (is the neck OK?) Yeah, neck is all fine. (any areas of improvement ahead of the playoffs) Honestly, it's all about, keeping up with the good things that we have been doing and consistently to be able to deliver game after game with the same impact. That is the key thing for us. And I don't think there's anything more that we can add, but if we can keep doing the things that we are already doing with the same intent and with the same impact, I think we're gonna be good. (difference from last year to this year for you as a captain) Nothing. I mean, after the 12 games, we were at number one last season. So, same for this season as well. We lost the last two games last season. Both the games were here and we played the last game against the same opposition and they scored 230 and I think we got bundled out for 110-120 runs. So, there was some deja vu, going into this match, but I don't think there's anything differently that we have done this season. We were at in the top two consistently last year as well and even this year as well. (any message for the fans here before you perhaps see them again one more time?) Very grateful for the fans, that turn up and support us. And when you're playing franchisee like RCB and CSK, you know that they're gonna have an edge wherever they play. So, nothing is gonna change for us in that matter."

Stats by Roshan Gede
Biggest victory margins for GT
89 runs vs CSK, Ahmedabad, 2026
82 runs vs SRH, Ahmedabad, 2026
77 runs vs RR, Jaipur 2026
62 runs vs LSG, Pune, 2022
62 runs vs MI, Ahmedabad 2023 (Q2)

Biggest defeat margins for CSK in the IPL
89 runs vs GT, Ahmedabad, 2026
60 runs vs MI, Mumbai WS, 2013
54 runs vs PBKS, Brabourne, 2022
50 runs vs RCB, Chennai, 2025
46 runs vs MI, Chennai, 2019

Kagiso Rabada: (on him being on a hat-trick the next time he plays - [which is wrong as hat-tricks don't carry over to the next game]) "I realise now. (on the GT batters) Of course, Finchy wouldn't allow that. But yeah, I mean, Shubman, our top three, they batted phenomenally. I mean, they scored the bulk of the runs, more than the bulk of the runs. They delivered today and they put up a good total that we could really, believe that we could defend. (on his great form) Yeah, I think it's just about doing your best every single game. No matter how you feel, it's just about being competitive. Even if you wake up not feeling so good or feeling extremely tired, as long as you rock up to the game and, you're not afraid of being competitive. And that's all I try to do. (on him bowling with the new-ball, loving this new role?) Yeah, well, I've bowled in all three, stages or phases of the game. So for me, it's whatever the coach and the team require of me. And I'm going to try and execute that to the best of my ability. (what are the next couple of days look like for you boys?) We've got a while now, so I guess feet up, get stuck in your hotel room, watch some series, and then hit the ground running closer to the game. (is that a good thing or a bad thing?) Yeah, all the waiting is just too much."

(2/2) "(on the youngsters who can take this team forward) Yes, I mean, moving on from the likes of Ajinkya Rahane or, you know, Ambati Rayudu, is someone who, we had experience throughout the years, obviously, Kartik Sharma, Urvil, even Brev [Brevis] he obviously missed out on playing initially in the season as well. Kartik obviously impressed a lot. He has a lot of potential going ahead, obviously a lot of areas to improve. Urvil again is someone, playing a full season for the first time. So, you have a lot of expectations coming when you are playing full season. So, definitely that could have played in his mind. But obviously good to have those games in the bag for everyone and, definitely we'll come back stronger next year. (will we see MS Dhoni next season?) Obviously you will get to know it next year itself. Even I'll get to know it next year itself. Obviously, it's a hard, hard miss for us definitely. He's someone who can, have a fear in the opposition, especially coming in those late overs. Can really change the game, can really change the momentum just by staying at the crease. So, he's someone, definitely we missed a lot this season. But, I mean, we never know about next season, but obviously really happy with the guys we had and, really happy with the experience they got this year."

Ruturaj Gaikwad | CSK captain: (1/2) "Yes, also keeping in mind, we wanted to kind of chase whatever the total is as early as possible. And, obviously, when you chasing 230, anyways in 20 overs, it's not going to be easy with the kind of bowling attack they have. But, just why don't give it a shot and, just go out there and express. And obviously, credit to them. They outplayed us in all departments. (any regrets on fielding first?) Not really, actually. I thought it was a bit spongy to start with. Obviously, they got off to a good start. A few errors in our bowling, we didn't execute that well in the powerplay, especially to both of them. And, once their openers, they get going, it's very hard to stop them. So, obviously, even in between, there were phases where we could have capitalised, we could have restricted them to 200. But, we failed to do that today. (on the season as a whole) Well, tough season to start, especially the hat-trick of losses. And then after that, once we found that momentum, obviously we found guys playing at the right spot, the right combination, everything started working. And then obviously, a couple of injuries again and again. Didn't really help much, especially missing out Jamie and, another allrounder in Ramakrishna Ghosh, kind of unsettled our playing 12. We were always playing a batter short or, playing a bowler short in whatever last three games we played. So obviously, not many people actually buy the fact that we are a young team, we are in a transition phase and, not a lot of players who are experienced enough, especially in the toughest competition. But the given the fact that, more than eight to ten players who have... played just below the 20 games, it's good to have that exposure for them, especially this year. We got to know what are the areas we are lacking and definitely still to get those six wins, on the road and some couple of great wins as well. So really proud of the unit. There were few games, as I said, when we travelled to Hyderabad, we missed out on chasing 80 in 10 overs and then even last time when we played in Chennai, we could have restricted them to 180. So, couple of games where we could have just got over the line, failed to do that, but still, very much proud.

23:01 Local Time, 17:31 GMT: The chase never really got going for Chennai Super Kings. Samson, who came out despite the finger injury, departed off the very first ball and that immediately put CSK under pressure. Gaikwad promoted himself down to number three in an attempt to stabilise things, but that plan didn’t quite work either as Siraj ripped through the top order with three wickets in his opening two overs. When Matt Short became the fourth wicket to fall inside the powerplay, CSK were already playing catch-up in a daunting chase. The only real spark came from Shivam Dube, who launched a brutal counterattack and smashed his way to a 17-ball 47. For a brief period, he gave CSK a glimmer of hope. But once Dube fell, the innings completely collapsed. The final four wickets fell for just four runs as Gujarat Titans wrapped things up in emphatic fashion. It was yet another clinical bowling display from GT, led brilliantly by their two quicks upfront - Siraj and Rabada - who picked up three wickets each. Rashid Khan then cleaned up the lower order with three wickets of his own to complete a dominant all-round performance. Hang around for the post-match stuff..

Kagiso Rabada to Spencer Johnson, THATS OUT!! Caught!!

GT review! Rabada appeals for caught behind. Nothing from Jos Buttler. The players are already shaking hands. Johnson must have known. Spike on UltraEdge. OUT

Kagiso Rabada to Noor Ahmad, THATS OUT!! Caught&Bowled!!

Over Summary (7-13)
-- Gill scores a direct-hit and catches Kartik short
-- Gill drops a tough chance of Dube at mid-off
-- Arshad Khan is taken for 19 runs in his second over
-- Holder v Dube - 6, 4, 0, 6, 1
-- Dube smashes a six, but Rashid answers with a wicket
-- Kamboj greets Prasidh with a six and a four
-- Rashid strikes twice. Gets Kamboj and Brevis