A place in the final is the reward for the winner of the Indian Premier League Qualifier which takes place on Tuesday as the IPL 2023 playoffs get underway with the Gujarat Titans taking on the Chennai Super Kings.
The winners head to Ahmedabad to compete in the final while the losers will get a second chance to make it to the title game. This is the last match of the IPL 2023 campaign where there isn’t knockout jeopardy on it.
Gujarat Titans
The defending champions Gujarat Titans are making an excellent defence of their title. They won 10 of their 14 regular season matches and would surely have won another but for that incredible finish from the Kolkata Knight Riders. They now get two goes at making the final, a final which were they to make it would be on their home ground so there is a lot going for the Titans, albeit they will be away from home for this Qualifier.
The positive for Gujarat is that they head into this Qualifier with their batting and their bowling seemingly in good form. They have the two leading wicket takers in the competition which is never a bad thing, while Shubman Gill is in excellent form with the bat. The negative is that they were playing in Bangalore on Sunday evening and now need to be competing in Chennai less than 48 hours later. That is a tough ask.
Chennai Super Kings
The Chennai Super Kings are another team who have put together an excellent season and their reward for that is that they get the first of their two chances to make the final inside their home stadium. If they can use home conditions to their advantage then there is every chance they will be the first team through to the final. They don’t just have familiar surroundings on their side, their final regular season match was on Saturday so they have had the extra day to recover.
The Super Kings have shown they can win high scoring matches, which might be significant here, but the longer the season has gone on they have come to the boil with the ball and with pitches now getting to the stage where they are beginning to tire you would imagine the Chennai attack, particularly the way it is made up, will continue to go from strength to strength. They might have come second but the Super Kings will be feeling very good about their chances.
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Key Players
I suspect the winner of this match will be determined by the team who has the better powerplay with the ball in terms of wickets. That makes Mohammad Shami a big player for the Gujarat Titans as if he can rip a couple of poles his side would be on the way to victory.
The Chennai Super Kings have really improved since Deepak Chahar has returned from injury and if he can get rid of a couple of Gujarat batters, particularly if one is Shubman Gill, then his side will be well on the way to winning.
Betting
I’m full of respect for the Gujarat Titans but I do think they face a couple of significant disadvantages here. The first one being the obvious one that they are going to the home ground of their opposition here but the more important one for me is the short turnaround between their last regular season match and this game. They have had less than 48 hours from the end of that game to the start of this one and in that time they are going to have had to travel from Bangalore to Chennai.
I’ve always had an issue with Gujarat batting first. Their record last season when they batted first was terrible and while it is better this season I’m still not convinced they are completely comfortable when they bat first, especially with their batting not exactly the deepest. Chennai Super Kings look comfortable whether they are setting a score or chasing one down and the return of Deepak Chahar has made such a difference to them. Chennai have won three of their last four matches and with a couple of significant advantages I think they have the edge here.
Tips
Back Chennai Super Kings to beat Gujarat Titans for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with William Hill
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