Who won GT vs CSK Man of the Match Award in IPL 2023 Match 1?

Dixit Bhargav | 01/04/2023
Who won GT vs CSK Man of the Match Award in IPL 2023 Match 1?

Defending champions Gujarat Titans have defeated Chennai Super Kings by 5 wickets in Indian Premier League 2023 season opener at the Narendra Modi Stadium tonight. A closely fought contest provided a fitting beginning to the 16th season of the biggest T20 league in the world.

Titans opening batter Shubman Gill (63) managed to transform his supreme international form into a T20 tournament on the back of scoring an 18th half-century in the format. Opening the batting with wicket-keeper batter Wriddhiman Saha (25), Gill hit six fours and three sixes at a strike rate of 175 to be the top-scorer for his team.

Other than Saha, Gujarat all-rounder Vijay Shankar (27) and Impact Player Sai Sudharsan (25) also contributed to in a winning cause but it was all-rounders Rahul Tewatia (15*) and Rashid Khan‘s (10*) efforts in the business end of the match which allowed them to score 23 runs in a couple of overs (four balls to spare) to seal the highest successful T20 run chase at this venue.

GT vs KKR Man of the Match Today

It was GT captain Hardik Pandya (0/28 & 8) who asked Super Kings to bat first in Ahmedabad on a Friday night. Before Gill expressed himself, Chennai opener Ruturaj Gaikwad (92) registered a 21st T20 half-century consisting of four fours and nine sixes at a strike rate of 184.

Visiting captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (14*) rolled back the clock for a brief period but wasn’t able to touch the 200-run mark which his team looked to surpass till the time Gaikwad was batting.

One of the main reasons for not letting CSK post an above par innings total, Rashid Khan picked bowling figures of 4-0-26-2 to not only stop the incessant flow of runs but also pick crucial wickets of Moeen Ali (23) and Ben Stokes (7) in the sixth and eighth over respectively.

Having also hit a four and a six within the three balls that he faced in the last two overs, the 24-year old player was adjudged the Player of the Match and rightly so.

“So happy to get this crucial Man of the Match [award]. Will give me a lot of the energy for the rest of the competition. [Batting improvement] It is all thanks to the time we spend in the nets, and the confidence given to me by the coaching staff and captain Hardik [Pandya]. I’ve been batting a lot and the results are there to see,” Rashid told host broadcaster Star Sports Network during the post-match presentation ceremony.

Post Edited By: Dixit Bhargav
chennai super kings csk GT Gujarat Titans Indian Premier League IPL 2023

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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