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Alzarri Joseph's twin strike strike proved to be decisive as defending champions Gujarat Titans overpowered Chennai Super Kings by five wickets to make a winning start to their IPL 2023 campaign on Friday, March 31, 2023.
Joseph made a strong comeback with the ball to finish with 2/33 in his four overs including the key wickets of the well-set Ruturaj Gaikwad and the dangerous Ravindra Jadeja in the space of four balls.
Introduced in the ninth over, the fast bowler didn't have a great start as he was hit for three sixes by Gaikwad in his first over. He struggled with his control, bowling either too full or too short on the pads and was taken for runs.
Captain Hardik Pandya brought him back for the 14th over, in which he did well to concede just four singles, including two dot balls to new batter Shivam Dube and he then produced another tight over, giving away seven in the 16th over.
Joseph, who seemed to have got his rhythm back, was entrusted with the task of bowling the crucial 18th over and he crippled CSK by dismissing the well-set Gaikwad.
Joseph will consider himself lucky that Gaikwad, who smashed 92 from 50 balls, miscued a high full toss and was caught by Shubman Gill at long-on. A few inches higher and the ball could have been ruled a no-ball while Gaikwad himself will rue not hitting a few metres either side of Gill to miss out on a deserved century.
Dube struggled to get going as he was peppered with short balls by the Gujarat pacers, forcing Ravindra Jadeja to take a risk early in his innings. But the experienced left-hander ended up flicking Joseph straight into the hands of Vijay Shankar at deep midwicket to perish for one.
Joseph finished with 2/33 in his four overs, as he bounced back after a poor start with 2/15 in his last three overs. His two important strikes in the 18th over proved crucial in stopping CSK from getting to the 200 run mark as they lost momentum and finished on 178/7 in their 20 overs, which Gujarat overhauled with four balls to spare.