Mumbai: Wriddhiman Saha’s unbeaten 67 led Gujarat Titans to a thumping seven-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings yesterday and a top-two finish in the IPL league stage.
Chasing a tricky 134 for victory, table-toppers Gujarat reached the target with five balls to spare on the back of Saha’s 57-ball knock at the Wankhede Stadium.
A disciplined attack led by fast bowler Mohamed Shami set up the win for Gujarat.
The pacer returned figures of 2-19 including the key wickets of Devon Conway, for five, and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, for seven, to restrict title holders Chennai to 133-5.
The four-time winners slumped to their ninth loss in 13 matches to stay just one spot above bottom-placed Mumbai Indians in the 10-team table.
Gujarat, one of two newcomers to the Twenty20 tournament and the first team to qualify for the play-offs, now have 10 victories in 13 matches.
The top two teams among the final four in the play-offs will have a second shot at making the title clash even if they lose their first qualifier on May 24.
They will play the winner of the eliminator – between teams three and four – in the second qualifier to have a chance of entering the final scheduled for May 29.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Saha stood firm during the chase despite losing his opening partner Shubman Gill for 18 and then Australia’s Matthew Wade, for 20. Sri Lanka medium-pace bowler Matheesha Pathirana took two wickets including skipper Hardik Pandya for seven but Saha kept the chase on track and hit the winning boundary.

ROYALS WIN BY 24 RUNS
In another match yesterday, Rasjathan Royals beat Lucknow Super Giants by 24 runs.
It was a clinical performance from the Royals bowlers against the Super Giants as they went on to post a comprehensive win. Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna and Obed McCoy picked a couple of wickets each after the batters had pushed the total to 178. With the win RR now move up to second spot on the IPL points table with Super Giants at 3rd.

BRIEF SCORES
Chennai Super Kings 133/5 (Ruturaj Gaikwad 53; Mohamed Shami 2for 19) lost to Gujarat Titans 137/3 (Wriddhiman Saha 67*; Matheesha Pathirana 2 for 24) by 7 wickets (with 5 balls remaining)
Rajasthan Royals 178/6 (Yashasvi Jaiswal 41; Ravi Bishnoi 2 for 31) beat Lucknow Super Giants 154/8 (Deepak Hooda 59; Trent Boult 2 for 18) by 24 runs