Gujarat Titans handed Chennai Super Kings a heavy eight-wicket defeat at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on April 26, chasing down 159 with 20 balls to spare.
Kagiso Rabada dismantled the CSK top order with 3 for 25, and Sai Sudharsan followed up with a blazing 87 off 46 balls to make it a complete performance from the Titans. GT move up to fifth on the IPL 2026 points table, while CSK slip to sixth.
Rabada Wrecks CSK in Powerplay
CSK won the toss and batted first, but their innings was in trouble from the third over. Rabada and Mohammed Siraj bowled through the power play, and the conditions at Chepauk played into their hands. The pitch offered unexpected pace and bounce, and CSK had no answer.
Sanju Samson hit two boundaries off Rabada in the first over, which only seemed to fire him up. Rabada came back and took two wickets in his very next over, including Samson for 11. By the end of the powerplay, CSK were 28 for 3 — the third-lowest six-over score of the season.
CSK used their Impact Player slot at the four-over mark, bringing in Sarfaraz Khan, but he fell for a golden duck without facing a delivery. Rabada finished with 3 for 25 from four overs and was named Player of the Match. He was sharp and consistent throughout, and Siraj backed him up well with 1 for 23.
Gaikwad Fights Alone but CSK Fall Short
With the top order gone, Ruturaj Gaikwad held the innings together on his own. He batted through all 20 overs, finishing unbeaten on 74 off 60 balls. But the pitch made attacking cricket nearly impossible, and between overs 3.5 and 9.1, CSK went 31 balls without a boundary.
CSK brought up their fifty only in the 11.6th over — their second-slowest in IPL history. Gaikwad scored 74 of the team’s 158, a sign of how little support he received. He played 30 dot balls in his innings, the joint-second most in an IPL innings. Shivam Dube contributed 22, and Jamie Overton added a brisk 18 off 6 at the death, but the total still looked thin on a surface that was easing up by evening.
GT’s spinners struggled when Arshad Khan leaked 43 runs in four overs, and Rashid Khan gave away 21 in just one over, but it barely mattered given how dominant the pace attack had been.
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Sudharsan Seals It in Style for GT
GT’s chase began confidently. Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan put on 58 for the first wicket before Gill was stumped off Noor Ahmad for 33. After that, Sudharsan did not slow down. He reached fifty off 33 balls and went on to make 87 off 46, hitting seven sixes and four fours at a strike rate of 189.
Titans reached 100 faster than CSK reached 50. Jos Buttler gave good support at the other end, finishing on 39 not out off 30. The match was effectively over by the 14th over, when supporters began heading for the exits.
Sudharsan, a Chennai native, backed up his hundred from the previous game with another outstanding knock. GT move into the top half of the table with this win, and CSK now face questions about their batting depth and impact player strategy.
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