‘Ye dhobi me ab wo baat nhi rhi’ – Fans fume as Chennai lost Indian T20 League 2023 opener against Gujarat

The much-awaited cricket carnival of the Indian T20 League finally started on Friday, March 31 at the Narendra Modi Stadium. The opening match of the league was played between the defending champions Gujarat and the four-time champions Chennai. The Gujarat-based franchise skipper Hardik Pandya opted to bowl first after winning the toss and defeated the Men in Yellow by 5 wickets and started their campaign with a tremendous win.

Talking about the match, Hardik Pandya opted to bowl first after winning the toss. Chennai started badly as they lost their opener, Devon Conway early, but right-handed batter Ruturaj Gaikwad looked at ease, despite his partner’s early dismissal. Along with Moeen Ali, Gaikwad dominated the powerplay, but Rashid Khan came into the attack and struck in his first over. He got rid of both the England allrounders, Moeen and Ben Stokes.

Brilliant batting performance by Gujarat

However, Gaikwad continued to deal in boundaries but Gujarat pulled things back to an extent after the second strategic time-out, and then the Chennai batters lost the momentum. Gaikwad missed out on his century as he was dismissed in the 90s, but it was due to Shivam Dube and Ambati Rayudu, who couldn’t accelerate towards the end. Skipper MS Dhoni played a couple of enterprising shots and took the team to a fighting total of 178 runs.

Chasing the target, Gujarat got off to a flier as Wriddhiman Saha and Shubman Gill started brilliantly. However, Saha’s cameo ended within the powerplay, but that set the tone for the innings. Gill took on the role of the anchor and played a few expansive shots here and there. Gujarat got handy contributions from their impact substitute Sai Sudharshan, who came on for an injured Kane Williamson, and Vijay Shankar. They lost two quick wickets in the death as Chennai’s debutant Rajvardhan Hangargekar impressed with a three-fer, but Rahul Tewatia kept his nerves and finished the match convincingly.

Here’s how fans reacted:

https://twitter.com/AfrozUd01302313/status/1641865082354409473?s=20

Tushar Deshpande konsi team ka impact player tha ??

— Sonu (@Sonu_jat18) March 31, 2023

https://twitter.com/Saksham2601/status/1641865675412238336?s=20

https://twitter.com/Abhi96532130/status/1641865791183400961?s=20

https://twitter.com/kamalakantparh2/status/1641866431141916672?s=20

https://twitter.com/PALASH20M/status/1641865590200762368?s=20

https://twitter.com/rohancric947/status/1641865131410984961?s=20

https://twitter.com/Harsh94295/status/1641866379350650880?s=20

https://twitter.com/hareshd63669289/status/1641866363567472640?s=20