IPL final rescheduled for today
Heavy rain prevented any play at the final of the Indian Premier League (IPL) yesterday between defending champions Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings. The final of the world’s most lucrative domestic Twenty20 (T20) league will be played today.
Chennai, led by veteran Mahendra Singh Dhoni, will be playing a record 10th IPL final and looking for a record-equalling fifth title.
Gujarat, skippered by Hardik Pandya, thumped five-time champions Mumbai Indians in the knockout game to book a place in their second successive IPL final.
The rain stopped briefly at around 9 p.m. local time, and the ground staff even took the covers off from the pitch and the square, but soon the rain came down heavily again.
Persistent rain left plenty of big puddles on the outfield of the more than 100,000-capacity Narendra Modi Stadium before umpires finally called the final off for the day at 10:52 p.m., after consulting the ground staff and the match referee.
Gujarat fans had hoped to watch Shubman Gill, who has scored 851 runs from 16 games, including three centuries in the last four matches.
Gujarat lost their qualifier to Chennai, where Gill made 42, but the 23-year-old’s whirlwind century off 49 balls crushed Mumbai in the knockout game on Friday.
Today, Gill could become only the second batter in the history of the IPL to reach 900 runs in a season. Virat Kohli holds the record for most runs in an IPL season with 973 in 2016.
Gujarat seamer Mohammed Shami is the leading wicket-taker in this edition of the IPL with 28 wickets.