Ruturaj Gaikwad & Devon Conway set a new milestone together for CSK (Photo: Sportzpics)
In the first qualifier on Tuesday evening in Chennai, the duo went all guns blazing to provide a phenomenal start to the team, bringing up the 9th fifty-run partnership for the team
The openers of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) – Ruturaj Giakwad and Devon Conway – have been in superb form in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. In the first qualifier on Tuesday evening in Chennai, the duo went all guns blazing to provide a phenomenal start to the team, bringing up the 9th fifty-run partnership for the team. The pair added 87 runs to the first wicket before Ruturaj fell prey to Mohit Sharma in the 11th over of the Chennai innings.
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Ruturaj and Conway have now equalled the record of MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja for the most number of fifty partnerships for the Chennai Super Kings. Former CSK openers Murali Vijay and Michael Hussey lead the chart with 13 50-plus stands followed by the pairs of Dhoni-Suresh Raina and Hussey and Raina.
| Batters | No. of 50-plus partnerships for CSK |
| Murali Vijay, Michael Hussey | 13 |
| MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina | 10 |
| Michael Hussey, Suresh Raina | 10 |
| MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja | 9 |
| Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway | 9 |
At the same time, Gaikwad and Conway have set the record for the second-most fifty-plus opening stands for CSK. They surpassed the pairs of Ruturaj-Faf du Plessis (8) and Brendon McCullum-Dwayne Smith (7).
| Batters | No. of 50-plus opening partnerships for CSK |
| Murali Vijay, Michael Hussey | 13 |
| Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway | 9 |
| Faf du Plessis, Ruturaj Gaikwad | 8 |
| Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Smith | 7 |
Ruturaj on Tuesday scored his 4th half-century this season. He scored 60 off 44 balls, with the help of a six and 7 boundaries. Earlier, he got a life in the second over when Darshan Nalkande had him caught by Shubman Gill at mid-off but it was an overstepped no-ball.
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Earlier, GT won the toss and opted to bowl first against Chennai Super Kings. The winner of the match will directly qualify to the final whereas the losing side will get another opportunity to compete in the Qualifier 2, to be held on May 24 in Ahmedabad.
The Titans skipper Hardik Pandya said that his side has made one change with Darshan Nalkande coming in place of Yash Dayal while CSK went unchanged.
