Chennai, Mar 26 (IANS): Shivam Dube hammered a 23-ball 51 after Rachin Ravindra and Ruturaj Gaikwad set frantic pace with a whirlwind 46 each as Chennai Super Kings blazed to 206/6 off 20 overs against Gujarat Titans in Match 7 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Tuesday.

Dube blazed to his half-century off 22 balls, hammering five sixes and two fours after Ravindra had set the pace with a sensational 20-ball 46 (6x4,3x6) and skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad had contributed a more sedate 46 off 36 balls, hitting five boundaries and one six.

Chennai Super Kings got off to a whirlwind start after Shubman Gill won the toss for Gujarat Titans and elected to bowl first. New Zealander Rachin Ravindra was the main reason for their brilliant start as he went hammer and tongs at the pacers to help CSK race to 50 in the fifth over. As the Gujarat pacers attempted to use the short ball against him, Ravindra repeatedly used the pull shot to get onto the top of the Titans' bowling.

Ravindra, who got a chance to open the innings as his compatriot Devon Conway pulled out with an injury, pulled, drove, ramped, and flicked off his hips as he hammered the Gujarat Titans pacers. Ravindra struck the experienced Umesh Yadav for a six and four off successive balls twice -- in the second and fourth overs. He picked a delivery off his hips into the crowd and followed it up with a slash over point for a four in the second over. In the fourth over, he repeated the act, hitting Umesh straight over the ropes off a length delivery on the stumps. The next ball was he stepped away from the leg stump and cracked it along the carpet through point and cover-point for a boundary.

In between, the 24-year-old New Zealander cracked boundaries off successive balls off Afghan pacer Azmatullah Omarzai. In the fifth over, Ravindra hammered a six and four in three deliveries against Azmatullah Omarzai as he raced to 42 off 18 balls.

Rashid Khan had the measure of him in the sixth over when he foxed Ravindra with a quicker one but which the batter had no idea and Wriddhiman Saha whipped off the bails as the batter ventured out of the crease to complete the shot. He was out for 46 off 20 balls and CSK were 62/1 in the sixth over. He struck six boundaries and three sixes in his 20-ball knock.

CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad, who was a spectator as Rachin Ravindra was going great guns, took over the scoring after that and unleashed some superb shots as CSK set an electrifying pace. Gaikwad, who was dropped by Sai Kishore at slip off Omarzai when on 1, punished Gujarat Titans as he hammered some superb shots, hitting five boundaries and one six to score 46 off 36 balls, hitting his lone six off Spencer Johnson.

There was no respite for Gujarat Titans as Shivam Dube took over the attack as he waded into the bowlers, hitting sixes at will as he completed a well-deserved half-century. Dube blasted five sixes and two boundaries as CSK maintained a healthy scoring rate despite losing Ajinkya Rahane for a run-a-ball 12. Shivam Dube maintained the momentum for CSK with brilliant power-hitting, using raw power to unleash some massive sixes. He was very good against the spinners, starting his knock with sixes off successive balls off Sai Kishore for his first two scoring shots. He also picked Rashid Khan's googly and deposited into the crowd over long-on.

He treated Spencer Johnson to a four followed by a six off a delivery banged in short in the 15th over. A six off Mohit Sharma in the 19th over followed by a brace helped him reach his fifty before Rashid Khan accounted for the left-hander from Mumbai as he got him with a googly this time Dube mistimed his shot that came off the bottom of the bat and was caught by Vijay Shankar at extra cover.

The CSK onslaught continued as 20-year-old Sameer Rizvi, who came in next hammered 14 runs off four balls from Rashid, hitting the Afghanistan spinner for a six off the first ball, going down on one knee and sweeping hard over the deep backward square fence, and a couple of balls later, jumped down the track to blast a length ball clear over long-off for another maximum.

Mohit Sharma got him in the final over, getting him to loft straight down the throat off David Miller as CSK ended their 20 overs with 206/6, leaving Gujarat Titans a big chase on a wicket that still looks quite good for batting.

Brief scores:

Chennai Super Kings 206/6 in 20 overs (Shivam Dune 51, Rachin Ravindra 46, Ruturaj Gaikwad 46; Rashid Khan 2-49) against Gujarat Titans.