CSK vs GT Highlights, IPL 2023 final: Rain pushes blockbuster finale to reserve day after Sunday washout

Ambati Rayudu has announced his retirement from IPL 2023. The batter said that tonight's finale between Gujarat and CSK will be his final match in the cash-rich tournament.

“2 great teams mi nd csk,204 matches,14 seasons,11 playoffs,8 finals,5 trophies.hopefully 6th tonight. It’s been quite a journey.I have decided that tonight’s final is going to be my last game in the Ipl.i truly hav enjoyed playing this great tournament. Thank u all. No u turn,” he tweeted.

Looking at the visuals available on social media, MS Dhoni - Indian cricket's biggest legend will get another rapturous reception at the Narendra Modi Stadium tonight.

Shubman Gill has done the bulk of scoring for Gujarat and has 851 runs under his name. Hardik Pandya is team's second highest run-getter but has only managed 325 runs so far, which is way too less as compared to Gill.

So apart from Gill it is Gujarat's bowling attack that has done the heavylifting for the side. Mohammed Shami has scalped 28 wickets, while Rashid Khan has 27 wickets under his belt. 

Meanwhile, Mohit Sharma too has surprised many in the edition and has accounted for 24 wickets.

The IPL 2023 was anticipated to be MS Dhoni's final outing in the lucrative T20 competition and this could well be the case. 

Dhoni has cleverly dodged the question on his future and said he'll take the decision in the months to come, probably somewhere close to the next auction. 

However, he also assured the fans that he'll be seen in the CSK dugout if not in the stands. 

Shubman Gill will be Chennai Super Kings' biggest headache tonight. The batter is in imperious form and has scored three tons and four half-centuries already. He will once again look to stamp his authority tonight and looking at the CSK attack the odds will favour the batter.

The big concern for fans is that rains are expected to hinder the proceedings during the final. 

It was raining in the previous encounter against Mumbai Indians as well and the match had seen a late start.

“What truly impressed me about Shubman's batting was his remarkable temperament, unwavering calmness, hunger for runs and astute running between the wickets.” - Shubman Gill gets a praise from batting legend Sachin Tendulkar.

"I loved his body language, his self-confidence, self-belief, and he's gotten a habit of playing in big matches." – Suresh Raina loves the way Shubman Gill has been batting in the recent matches

The match marks MS Dhoni's 250th appearance in the IPL and no other player has played more matches than the CSK skipper. 

This will also be Dhoni's 11th appearance in the final and 10th as a captain. 

In the 250 matches, Dhoni played for CSK and Rising Pune Supergiant, which no longer exists. He has so far accumulated 5,082 runs at an average of 39.09 and a strike rate of 135.96 in 217 innings. His best score is 84* and has 24 half-centuries under his name. He is also the league's seventh-highest run scorer.

Chennai Super Kings, Gujarat Titans, Mumbai Indians, Lucknow Super Giants – were the four teams that made it to the play-offs.

Chennai defeated Gujarat to book a spot in the finals

Then Mumbai defeated Lucknow, following which they locked horns with Gujarat for the finale ticket

Gujarat dished out a brilliant show with the bat as the man in form Shubman Gill scored a brilliant ton. Riding on his innings Gujarat piled an enormous 233/3 on the board and won the match by 62 runs.

Both sides have faced each other four times in IPL history, with GT leading 3-1 vs CSK.

Ahead of the final, CSK head coach Fleming said, "The game doesn't change but the outcome does. It's really hard not to look too far ahead and dream of winning it again. To be a part of it is what we sit out to do, that's our purpose."

Ahead of the match, GT Director of Cricket Solanki hailed Gill. Gill bagged his third century of IPL 2023 during GT's win vs MI in Qualifier 2 and he also leads the Purple Cap race. "Shubman has batted for a lion's share of overs and we are very pleased that he is doing that. At any given time there can only be two batters. If the entirety of our overs, if it's just the openers batting, it's just fine by us", Solanki said.

CSK: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Shivam Dube, Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Moeen Ali, Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana, Matheesha Pathirana, Mitchell Santner, Subhranshu Senapati, Shaik Rasheed, Akash Singh, Ben Stokes, Dwaine Pretorius, Sisanda Magala, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Prashant Solanki, Simarjeet Singh, RS Hangargekar, Bhagath Varma, Nishant Sindhu

GT: Wriddhiman Saha(w), Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Hardik Pandya(c), Vijay Shankar, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Mohit Sharma, Noor Ahmad, Mohammed Shami, Joshua Little, Srikar Bharat, Shivam Mavi, Odean Smith, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Pradeep Sangwan, Matthew Wade, Jayant Yadav, Dasun Shanaka, Abhinav Manohar, Alzarri Joseph, Darshan Nalkande, Urvil Patel, Yash Dayal

Hello and good afternoon everyone! Welcome to our live coverage of today's IPL 2023 final between CSK and GT, straight from Ahmedabad.