2023 Indian Premier League final

The 2023 Indian Premier League final was played on 29 May 2023 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. It was a Day/Night T20 match that would decide the winner of the 2023 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), an annual Twenty20 tournament in India.

The match was originally scheduled to be played on 28 May, but was postponed to 29 May due to rain—marking the first time the IPL final had been postponed due to weather. After winning the toss, Chennai Super Kings elected to field, with Gujarat Titans scoring 214 runs for 4 wickets, setting the record for the highest team total in an IPL final. Due to inclement weather, the Super Kings' innings was delayed by over an hour, and the target was adjusted by the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern (DLS) method to 171 runs in 15 overs; the team would ultimately win by five wickets, securing their fifth IPL title. CSK player Devon Conway was named player of the match.

The broadcasts of the match on JioCinema peaked at over 32 million concurrent viewers, overtaking the 2019 Cricket World Cup semi-final between India and New Zealand on Hotstar as India's most-watched livestreaming broadcast of all time.

Background
On 17 February 2023, the BCCI announced the schedule for the 2023 season of the Indian Premier League. 12 venues were scheduled to host the group stage. The schedule for the playoffs was announced on 21 April. M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai was chosen to host qualifier 1 and the eliminator whereas the Narendra Modi Stadium was chosen to host qualifier 2 and the final. Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans played the final on 29 May 2023. The Super Kings won the match by five wickets (DLS method).

Road to the final
Source: Firstpost India Today

Group stage
Gujarat Titans started their season with a 5 wicket win over Chennai Super Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. After a victory over Delhi Capitals they were defeated by Kolkata Knight Riders. Then Titans defeated the Punjab Kings before they were defeated by the Rajasthan Royals. They went on a three match winning streak after that loss but lost three of their last five matches. They ended the group stage with 10 wins and 4 losses, finishing first on the points table for the second consecutive season.

Chennai Super Kings started their season with a loss of 5 wickets against Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. After a winning streak of 2 matches they were defeated by Rajasthan Royals in their fourth fixture. Then after a three match winning streak they were again defeated by Rajasthan Royals. They won three of their last five matches. They ended the group stage with 8 wins and 5 losses excluding a washed out match against the Lucknow Super Giants thus, securing second position on the points table.

League stage matches between finalists
Gujarat won the only fixture between the two teams by 5 wickets on 31 March in Ahmedabad. Rashid Khan took 2 wickets for 26 runs and was the player of the match.

Playoffs
The playoff stage of IPL was played according to the Page playoff system and provided Gujarat and Chennai, being the top and second-ranked teams, with two chances for qualifying for the Final. These teams first faced each other in Qualifier 1, with Chennai, as the winners, qualifying directly for the final; Gujarat, as the loser of Qualifier 1, played against the winner of the Eliminator in Qualifier 2, with the winner of that match qualifying for the final.

In Qualifier 1, Gujarat won the toss and chose to field. Chennai Super Kings scored 172/7 in their 20 overs with Ruturaj Gaikwad top scored for Chennai with 60 runs in 44 balls. Mohammed Shami was Gujarat's best bowler and took 2 wickets for 28 runs. In reply, Gujarat was only able to score 157 in 19.5 overs and was all out. Shubman Gill scored 42 runs in 38 balls while Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Chahar, Maheesh Theekshana and Matheesha Pathirana took 2 wickets each for Chennai. As a result, Chennai qualified for the 10th time in the IPL Final.

Mumbai Indians won against Lucknow Super Giants in the Eliminator to set up a match against Gujarat to decide the second finalist.

In Qualifier 2, Mumbai won the toss and chose to field. Gujarat scored a record 233/3 runs in their 20 overs. Shubman Gill scored 129 runs in 60 balls. Though expensive, Piyush Chawla was best bowler for Mumbai as he took 1 wicket for 45 runs in 3 overs. In response, Mumbai was only able to score 171 runs in 18.2 overs and got all out. Suryakumar Yadav scored 61 runs from 38 balls while Mohit Sharma took 5 wickets for just 10 runs in 2.2 overs. Thus, Gujarat qualified for their second IPL final.

Match officials

 * On-field umpires: Nitin Menon and Rod Tucker
 * Third umpire: K. N. Ananthapadmanabhan
 * Reserve umpire: Jayaraman Madanagopal
 * Match referee: Javagal Srinath
 * Toss: Chennai Super Kings won the toss and elected to field.

Summary
In a rain delayed match, Chennai Super Kings won the toss and elected to field. The game was rained out on day 1 and moved over to the reserve day. Batting first, Gujarat Titans scored 214 runs for the loss of 4 wickets in their 20 overs. Left-handed batsman Sai Sudharsan top scored with 96 runs while Indian wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha scored 54 runs. Sri Lankan fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana took 2 wickets while conceding 44 runs for the Super Kings. In response, Chennai Super Kings chased the revised target of 171 runs from 15 overs. Devon Conway scored 47 runs from 25 balls while Mohit Sharma took 3 wickets from 36 runs in 3 overs. Thus, Super Kings won their 5th title and Conway was named as the player of the match

Gujarat Titans innings
Having been asked to bat, the Titans got off to a healthy start with openers Wriddhiman Saha and Shubman Gill helping the team get to 50 runs in 5.2 overs and went on to score 62 runs for the loss of no wickets at the end of the first power play at 6 overs. Gill was the first to fall, dismissed off a stumping by MS Dhoni off the bowling of Ravindra Jadeja. He scored 39 runs off 20 balls. Indian batsman Sai Sudharsan joined Saha, and the duo put on 64 runs before Saha was out caught by Dhoni off the bowling of Deepak Chahar. The score was 131 runs for the loss of 2 wickets at the end of 14 overs. Sudharsan was joined by captain Hardik Pandya, and the duo put on a quickfire 81 runs off 5 overs before Sudharsan was out leg before wicket off the bowling of Pathirana for 96 runs, his highest score, in the twentieth over. The Titans wrapped their innings scoring 214 runs having lost 4 wickets in their 20 overs. Sri Lankan fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana took 2 wickets while conceding 11 runs for the Super Kings.

Chennai Super Kings innings
The Super Kings innings was delayed by rain with the game being reduced to 15 overs and a revised target of 171 runs to win the finals and the championship. Indian batter Ruturaj Gaikwad and New Zealand batter Devon Conway opened the innings for Super Kings and got the team to a healthy start scoring 52 runs off 4 overs from the first power play. Gaikwad was the first to be dismissed when he was out for 26 runs caught at backward point by Afghan allrounder Rashid Khan off the bowling of fellow Afghan spinner Noor Ahmad. Conway was out the very same over dismissed caught by Mohit Sharma off Ahmad. Impact substitute Shivam Dube was joined by Indian batter Ajinkya Rahane and the duo took the score to 117 runs off 10.5 overs before Rahane was out caught by Vijay Shankar off the bowling of Sharma. Captain MS Dhoni came-in to bat when the team was down four wickets with Ambati Rayudu dismissed caught and bowled off Sharma. Dhoni was out for a duck the very first ball caught by David Miller at extra cover off the bowling of Sharma.

The game came down to the last two deliveries with the Super Kings needing 10 runs to win. Indian batter Ravindra Jadeja was on strike facing Mohit Sharma. Jadeja hoisted the penultimate delivery for a six over long off before finishing the innings by scoring a boundary behind the leg stump. The Super Kings won the game and the championship off the last ball of the rain reduced innings of 15 overs. This was the Super Kings' fifth IPL title.

Scorecard

 * colspan="4"| Extras 4 (b 1, lb 1, wd 2) Total 214/4 (20 overs)
 * 20
 * 9
 * 10.70 RR

Fall of wickets: 67/1 (S. Gill, 6.6 ov), 131/2 (W. Saha, 13.6 ov), 212/3 (S. Sudharsan, 19.3 ov), 214/4 (R. Khan, 19.6 ov)


 * colspan="4"| Extras 5 (lb 1, wd 4) Total 171/5 (15 overs)
 * 11
 * 10
 * 11.40 RR

Fall of wickets: 74/1 (R. Gaikwad, 6.3 ov), 78/2 (D. Conway, 6.6 ov), 117/3 (A. Rahane, 10.5 ov), 149/4 (A. Rayudu, 12.4 ov), 149/5 (M. Dhoni, 12.5 ov)