IPL Final: For the first time in the tournament’s history, rain postponed the summit clash till the reserve day

The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 final between four-time winners Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT), which was scheduled to be played on Sunday, will now be held at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Monday due to incessant rains in Ahmedabad. .

The Indian Premier League took to Twitter on Sunday to announce that the final has been moved to the reserve day on May 29. Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. Today’s physical tickets will be valid tomorrow. We request you to keep the tickets safe and intact,” tweeted IPL.

This is the first time in the history of IPL that the summit clash has been converted into a reserve day. The postponement of the match came as a surprise to many excited fans in the stadium as well as those waiting at their homes for the final. Around 11 am the IPL made the official announcement and put an end to many speculations.

As rain persisted, there was no clarity on the start time for the all-important IPL 2023 final between MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings and Hardik Pandya’s Gujarat Titans.

Earlier, the official Twitter handles of CSK and GT informed that no overs will be lost if the game starts at 9:40 pm local time. If even five overs of play is not possible by the cut-off time of 12:26 AM local time, the match may be pushed to a reserve day on Monday.

About half an hour before the time of the toss, the ground personnel were quick to cover the middle with two different layers of sheets as well as areas for the run-up for the fast bowlers. However, the severity of the rain increased rapidly, along with thunder and lightning, and the large number of fans who had gathered were forced to seek shelter and return to the stands.

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Coming to the finalists, defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT) and four-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will clash in the Indian Premier League (IPL) final at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday, making it GT’s second consecutive final and CSK’s first. 10th, the highest at any time in league history.

Hardik Pandya-led GT will be eager to defend the title they achieved in their debut season in 2022. CSK will be hoping to clinch their fifth title and perhaps give skipper MS Dhoni a memorable send-off, as this could be his. The previous season with the Yellow franchise has been speculated by many fans since the start of the tournament.

The defending champions have the home ground advantage. The biggest positive for them this year has been Shubman Gill’s form at the top. Gill has burst onto the scene this year after putting together a solid opening stand with Wriddhiman Saha. Gill currently holds the Orange Cap in IPL 2023. He has scored 851 runs in 16 matches at an average of 60.78, including three centuries and four fifties. His best score is 129. His runs have come at a strike rate of 156.43.

Gill’s wicket will be invaluable for CSK and the batsman will be hoping to hit the big one last time this season and try to surpass Virat Kohli’s tally of 973 runs in a single season, which was way back in 2016. The rest of the GT batsmen are in this season. Fine form, though their numbers dwarf those of Gil. Saha (317 runs), Captain Pandya (325 runs), David Miller (259 runs), Vijay Shankar (301 runs), Sai Sudarshan (266 runs) are capable of taking the team to a competitive total even if Gill fails.

GT though wants more from Miller, who has failed to fire heavily this year compared to his 481 runs in the 2022 season. Sudarshan can also provide stability and play the role of an anchor.

CSK, on ​​the other hand, have a lot of positives this year. Perhaps their biggest positive has been the opening pair of Ruturaj Gaikwad (564 runs) and Devon Conway (625 runs), a mixture of fire and ice, no-nonsense hitting and healthy strike rotation. Both have added 775 runs this season, including two centuries and four half-centuries. CSK’s middle order is also in good shape with the presence of Ajinkya Rahane (299 runs) and Shivam Dube (363 runs). The poor form of Rahane and Ambati Rayudu is a matter of concern but they know how to perform on the big stages and that cannot be denied.

Ravindra Jadeja has been having a solid all-around run, scoring 175 runs and picking up 19 wickets in the season, along with winning four ‘Player of the Match’ awards. Jadeja could be CSK’s most potent weapon in the final. MS Dhoni (104 runs) is also playing his part getting some big overs in the death overs and fans will be in for another ‘Thala show’.

Gujarat Titans Squad: Wriddhiman Saha(w), Shubman Gill, Sai Sudarshan, Hardik Pandya(c), Vijay Shankar, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Mohit Sharma, Noor Ahmed, Mohammed Shami, Joshua Little, Sreekar Bharat, Shivam Mavi, Odion Smith, Ravishrinivasan Sai Kishore, Pradeep Sangwan, Matthew Wade, Jayant Yadav, Dasun Shanaka, Abhinav Manohar, Alzarri Joseph, Darshan Nalkande, Urvil Patel, Yash Dayal.

Chennai Super Kings squad: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Shivam Dube, Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (c/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Moeen Ali, Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Mahesh Thikshana, Mathisha Pathirana, Mitchell Santner, Subhranshu Senapati, Shaik Rashid, Akash Singh, Ben Stokes, Dwayne Pretorius, Sisanda Magala, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Prashant Solanki, Simarjeet Singh, RS Hangargekar, Bhagat Verma, Nishant Sindhu.