Gujarat Titans vs Chennai Super Kings, Qualifier 1 - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

CSK make it through to another IPL final, signing off in style at Chepauk this season. Gujarat Titans, the defending champions, will have to go the longer route if they are to make it through. The next Qualifier will be in Ahmedabad in their home conditions. Who will join them? Find out tomorrow in the Eliminator between MI and LSG. That's all for now. This is Sagar Chawla signing off on behalf of Venky, Abhinand Raghavendran and Pradeep Krishnamurthy.

Gaikwad, Player of the Match: Last 3-4 games in Chennai have been different. First few games wicket was better. Have had to adapt. Look to rotate strike, capitalise on loose deliveries. Both are great players (Conway and Faf). Faf was someone who was aggressive from ball one. Conway has great batsmanship. I would say the knock of 60 (what was more satisfying - 60 or the catch).

Dhoni: IPL is too big to say it's just another final. Used to be 8 top teams, now it's 10. I won't say it's just another final. It's hard work of 2 months. Everybody has contributed. Yes, middle-order has not got ample opportunity. GT are a fantastic team and they've chased very well, so the thought was to get them in. But it was a good toss to lose. If Jaddu gets conditions that help him. he's very difficult to hit. His bowling changed the game. Not to forget his partnership with Moeen. We try to create an environment and work out what is the strength of a fast bowler. We try to give them confidence and tell them 'please try to explore your bowling'. We try to motivate them as much as possible. Support staff is there, Bravo and Eric are there. You see the wicket and according to that you keep adjusting the field. I can be a very annoying captain, I keep shifting fielders 2-3 feet. Only request I ask from the fielders is, keep an eye on me. If there's a dropped catch there will be no reaction (from me), just keep an eye on me. I don't know (back next year?) - I have 8-9 months to decide. Why take that headache now. I'll always be there for CSK, where it's playing or something outside.

Huge ovation for Dhoni as he walks up for a chat.

Time for the presentations..

Our fantasy XI experts went for six bowling options comprising of spinners and pacers with good variations for the dry track at Chepauk today, and it paid off handsomely. Even the C/VC choices of Jadeja and Rashid were spot on. Hope you took advantage of our Fantasy Handbook as well.

Deepak Chahar: Everything's okay, one more to go. I think the length, we saw them bowling, it was sticking and we decided to bowl a full length, didn't experiment too much, let them (the batters) take the risks. Chasing 170 in a semi-final with the crowd against you is difficult. I have played in playoffs before, I just told them about the pressure (when asked about what he told the juniors), I just asked them to confident about their skills, just one ball or catch is very important at this stage. We have the belief, we have done it so many times (on reaching the finals), the benefit of having seniors in big contests matter a lot, we have been there previously and it does help.

Hardik Pandya: I think we were quite spot-on (with the ball), but we made basic errors and that costed us the game. The kind of bowlers we had, I felt we conceded 15 extra runs. A lot of things we did right. We bowled a couple of soft balls in between. We were executing our plans and then in between we gave some runs. I don't think we need to look much into it. We have to play two days later, we have to play one more game to make sure we reach the final. Just focus on the things that we've done really well this season. That's the beauty about him (Dhoni), with his mind and the way he uses the bowlers, he'll make sure that you'll feel like he's adding 10 runs. We kept losing wickets, he kept making sure that he used the right bowlers, happy for him as well. It would be a really good sight to meet him on Sunday if we can win the next game. Regrets are not good in life, we expected dew might come, it didn't come. We gave 15 runs extra and we didn't do the right things in both the departments. We'll give a crack again after two days, let's hope for the best. (Will you watch the match tomorrow?) Yeah, my brother is playing, I hope I see him there (Ahmedabad).

GT’s defeats in run-chases
By 15 runs vs CSK, Chennai, today
By 27 runs vs MI, Mumbai WS, 2023
By 5 runs vs DC, Ahmedabad, 2023
By 5 runs vs MI, Brabourne, 2022
(This was just their fourth defeat in 18 run-chases)

23:25 Local Time, 17:55 GMT, 23:25 IST: CSK advance to the IPL final for a 10th time! 172 proved to be enough for them today with no dew on the outfield. The pitch slowed down, it offered grip and turn for their spinners and Jadeja and Theekshana were excellent. Figures of 4/46 between them in 8 overs which turned the balance in their favour through the middle-overs. And then Deepak Chahar, who had got rid of Saha with the new ball, came back to break the back of GT by removing Shubman Gill. The jubilant crowd at Chepauk were given a scare towards the end by Rashid Khan. Once again he looked great with the bat to dispatch some loose bowling from Pathirana and Deshpande. But there was too much on his shoulders, and CSK also raised their fielding standards in crunch moments to ensure he didn't have much support. Gujarat Titans, the chase masters, couldn't transcend the conditions today. That's what makes the toss so tricky here. If there was dew, it would've been a completely different scenario. But there wasn't, and CSK had the runs on the board thanks to a good fifty from Gaikwad, and contributions through the lineup from the likes of Conway, Rahane, Rayudu and Jadeja who played useful cameos.

Matheesha Pathirana in death overs (16-20) this season:
Overs: 26.2
Wickets: 16
Avg: 12.81
SR: 9.88
ER: 7.78
Dots: 65

Pathirana to Shami, out Caught by Chahar!! Another IPL final for CSK! They win by 15 runs and the fireworks go off! Slower ball on a short of length, Shami looks to pull but slices it in the air. Good catch from Chahar running across from mid-off. Shami c Chahar b Pathirana 5(5) [4s-1]

Pathirana to Shami, THATS OUT!! Caught!!

Pathirana to Shami, wide, they'll have to wait some more. Pathirana has bowled another wide down leg

The volume has been turned up now at Chepauk. Crowd waiting in anticipation for the final ball

Pathirana to Noor Ahmad, 1 run, short ball at the body, Noor mistimes the pull through midwicket

Pathirana to Noor Ahmad, FOUR, flies away off the edge for four! Slower ball floated up outside off, Noor has a big heave but all he gets is a thick leading edge. It loops over short third

Pathirana to Shami, 1 run, slower short ball on off, Shami flat-bats it on the bounce to long-on

Pathirana to Noor Ahmad, 1 run, low full toss on off, Noor hammers it to deep midwicket

Pathirana to Shami, 2 wides, another wide from Pathirana! Full toss down leg, Shami swings and misses, Dhoni fumbles and the two batters get across