David Miller scored a blistering unbeaten 94 as the Gujarat Titans defeated the Chennai Super Kings by 3 wickets at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Sunday.
Rashid Khan led the side in the absence of the injured Hardik Pandya. After being asked to bat first by stand in GT skipper, Chennai Super Kings were rocked early as Robin Uthappa (3) was trapped leg before wicket by a fuller delivery from Mohammed Shami.
Moeen Ali dragged at a length delivery from Alzarri Joseph onto his stumps for 1. Gaikwad along with Ambati Rayudu featured in a 92 run stand for the third wicket before the latter guided a full and wide delivery from Joseph to Vijay Shankar at sweeper cover for a fine 46.
The 25 year old Gaikwad perished to a full toss from Yash Dayal, hitting the ball straight to deep-backward square leg by Abhinav Manohar for a 48 ball-73.
Quickfire cameos from Shivam Dube (19) and Ravindra Jadeja (22)* propelled the Super Kings to a competitive score of 169/5 in their allotted 20 overs.
For Gujarat, Alzarri Joseph was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 2/34.
Chasing 170, Gujarat started disastrously by losing wickets of Shubman Gill, Vijay Shankar and Abhinav Manohar cheaply, leaving them in trouble at 16/3.
Ravindra Jadeja put Titans in further trouble, having Wriddhiman Saha (11) caught at deep square leg by Gaikwad for 11.
The pair of David Miller and Rashid Khan featured in a brilliant partnership of 70 runs for the sixth wicket.
With 48 needed off the last three overs, The Afghanistan star spinner Rashid slammed Chris Jordan for 25 runs to bring the equation down to 23 off 12 balls.
However Dwayne Bravo brought the Super Kings back into the contest- first by dismissing the dangerous Rashid for a 21 ball-40, and then removing Alzarri Joseph for a first ball duck.
The South African star left hander held his nerves and guided Gujarat to a stunning win with one ball to spare. His unbeaten knock of 94 runs came off just 51 deliveries, with 8 fours and 6 sixes.
David Miller was adjudged the Man of the Match for his swashbuckling knock.