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Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming says the defending champions were undone by "high calibre" batting effort of the Gujarat Titans openers -- skipper Shubman Gill and B Sai Sudharsan -- during their 35-run defeat in the IPL match in Ahmedabad on Friday.
Gill (104 off 55 balls) and Sudharsan (103 off 51) put on an opening stand of 210 runs to propel Gujarat Titans to 231 for 3. They then restricted the defending champions to 196 for 8 to stay alive in the play-offs race.
The win lifted GT from the bottom of the table to the eighth in the 10-team league. They have 10 points from 12 games, while CSK remained fourth with 12.
"It was a good onslaught and the batting was of the highest calibre. Right from the first over they disrupted our plans. It wasn't till the latter stages we got some control," said Fleming at the post-match press conference.
"We didn't execute as well as we could but the other part was the sublime batting from two very good players."
The former New Zealand captain praised Sudharsan for his effort.
"In the final last year, he (Sudharsan) played beautifully; he got 96. I have watched him closely; he has got good connections around the Chennai area. He is a wonderful player and today he proved that."
Fleming said CSK were put under immense pressure by the onslaught of the GT openers, resulting in errors in bowling and fielding.
"We were a little bit handicapped by the absence of some players. The players who were playing today did really well in the last game, so the confidence was high.
"Sometimes you do all the right things but good batting can put you under pressure. It was some high calibre hitting, just the pressure of that onslaught made us a bit sloppy.
"Fielding has been really good; you can't look at just one game. We were put under pressure today. Both bowling and fielding can often be on the backfoot under pressure. Today, we probably fell a little bit behind mentally."