Gujarat Titans 162 for 2 (Sai Sudharsan 87, Buttler 39*, Noor 1-29) beat Chennai Super Kings 158 for 7 (Gaikwad 74*, Rabada 3-25, Arshad 2-43) by wickets

They were 28 for 3, the third-lowest six-over score this season. Rabada was magnificent, as he usually is when someone ticks him off. Two boundaries by Sanju Samson in his first over made him mad. Two wickets in his second over, including Samson’s, made him happy. Siraj and Jason Holder went at less than run a ball. Rabada picked up 3 for 25 from four overs. GT’s spinners though leaked 43 runs in four overs. Rashid Khan bowled only six balls and gave away 21 runs.

This was an under-strength GT attack too with Prasidh Krishna not playing. Still, they denied CSK a boundary for 31 balls between overs 3.5 and 9.1. They made them wait 11.6 overs to bring up fifty, making it their second-slowest in the IPL. Gaikwad was out there for all of it. He got off the mark with two boundaries. But with all the help the quicks were getting and wickets falling at the other end, he set his stall out to play the full 20 overs. Gaikead scored 74 of CSK’s 158. He played out 30 dot balls, the joint-second highest in an IPL innings.

There had been heat warnings in Chennai on Sunday. Shubman Gill braved bowling first in those conditions and his team reaped the benefits of it later. Aware of what they needed to chase, and how the pitch was difficult to bat on, GT batted within themselves and there aren’t many teams that do that better than them. Sai Sudharsan led the way, backing up his hundred in the previous game with 87 off 46 in this one. He hit seven sixes. CSK hit six. GT brought up hundred quicker than CSK brought up their fifty earlier in the day. This kind of advantage almost always results in victory.

A crowd of 31,506 came to Chepauk. They roared for the fifty coming up even though it took 72 balls. They go gaga for Dewald Brevis’ entry, when he takes the knee just as he enters the field. He’s made 64 runs in 53 balls this season. He’s flattering to deceive. MS Dhoni isn’t attending a single match day but his disembodied voice keeps ringing out over the loud speakers saying “start the whistles”. And they do start. There is belief in Chennai but it started to fade around the 14th over of the chase when people started heading for the exit.