IPL 2023 Final: Sai Sudharsan’s carnage propels Gujarat Titans to highest ever total in IPL final history

Reigning champions Gujarat Titans asserted their dominance on four-time champions Chennai Super Kings in the IPL 2023 Final after Sai Sudharsan’s breathtaking assault took them to the highest-ever total in the IPL finals. The 21-year-old southpaw put on a masterclass in batting, smoking 96 runs in just 47 deliveries to shell-shock the visitors.

The defending champions were put into bat by Chennai’s MS Dhoni, who called it right at the coin toss. The Yellow Army were on top in the early stages of the duel and would’ve made a dream start in the final, only for Deepak Chahar to drop a routine catch, handing a reprieve to an in-from Shubman Gill.

Chahar’s night got from bad to worse as he dropped Gill’s opening partner Wriddhiman Saha off his own bowling. The four-time champions were sloppy in the field, and the Gujarat openers took full advantage of those errors, stitching a brisk 67-run stand for the first wicket. However, MS Dhoni’s swift work from behind the stumps saw an end to Gill’s onslaught, who smashed 39 runs in 20 deliveries.

Gill’s dismissal saw Saha up the ante in the middle overs during a healthy second-wicket stand with Sai Sudharsan. The scoring rate went up a level following Saha’s departure for a well-compiled half-century as Sai Sudharsan got through the gears to pile the pressure on CSK’s young bowling unit. 

Sai Sudarshan went berserk in the death overs against CSK’s inexperienced bowlers

Sudarshan, who was slow to start with, opened his shoulders with two maximums against Maheesh Theekshana in the Sri Lankan’s final over. Matheesha Pathirana was dispatched for two boundaries in the following over, but the real carnage came in Tushar Deshpande’s 17th over as the pacer was smoked for 20 runs.

The 21-year-old batter went into overdrive in the death overs, only to fall four short of a sensational century at the biggest of stages. His 96-run innings off just 47 deliveries is the highest score by an uncapped Indian in the final of IPL history and the third-highest individual score in the history of IPL finals. GT skipper Hardik Pandya, for a second game running, chipped in with an explosive came to take his side to 214 runs, the highest total in the history of IPL finals.