Ravindra Jadeja was the hero as the Chennai Super Kings beat the Gujarat Titans by five-wickets in the final of the 2023 Indian Premier League at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Monday

The Titans, after being put in to bat by the Super Kings, made an imposing 214-4 off their 20 overs.

Sai Sudharsan made an extremely composed 47-ball 96 for the Titans including eight fours and six sixes while Wriddhiman Saha made 54 off 39 balls earlier.

A prolonged rain-delay with CSK 4-0 after just three balls meant that, upon the return, they needed a revised target of 171 in 15 overs.

CSK’s formidable opening pair of Devon Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad continued their excellent form this season, putting on 74 for the first wicket before Gaikwad went for a 16-ball 26. Conway, who top scored for the Super Kings went, soon after, for a 25-ball 47.

In the end, an unbeaten 22-run partnership between Shivam Dube (32*) and Ravindra Jadeja (15*) handed Chennai their fifth IPL title, putting them alongside the Mumbai Indians at the top of the pile.

The match came down to the last two deliveries, with Jadeja facing pacer Mohit Sharma needing 10 to win.

He hit the fifth ball of the final over for a straight six before clipping the final ball down to the fine leg boundary to secure the win.

Sharma tried his best with the ball, taking 3-36 from his three overs while Noor Ahmad took 2-17 from his three.

Late fireworks from Windies all-rounder Andre Russell proved to be inadequate as Kolkata Knight Riders lost out to Gujarat Titans in a dramatic eight-run win in Mumbai on Saturday.

Chasing 157 for a win, KKR ended their innings at 148 for 8, with the run of the destructive Russell finally coming to an end with the second ball of the final over.

The batsman had entered the innings with the team needing 77, with just 8 overs remaining, and immediately smashed Yash Dayal for back-to-back sixes.  In total, Russell hammered six, sixes for a late 25-ball 48, which brought the team to needing 18 from the final over.  Facing international teammate Alzarri Joseph, he smashed the first ball for a six, but it was Joseph who had the last laugh when the rampaging batsman was gobbled up by Lockie Ferguson on the very next delivery.

Prior to that, Russell had put in an even more impressive cameo with the ball.  With the 20th to be bowled and the Titans potentially poised for a big score, on 151 for 5, KKR captain Iyer Shreyas turned to Russell for the first time in the match.

Russell's amazing last over brought the Knights right back into contention. The West Indies all-rounder conceded just five runs off that final over and picked up four wickets, with Rinku Singh picking up three of those catches.  The bowler’s 4 for 5 in 1 over was the best ever for one over in IPL history.

For the Titans, Mohammed Shami, Rashid Khan, and Dayal took two wickets each, with Alzarri Joseph and Ferguson getting one each. Veteran India pacer Shami bowled a destructive opening spell, taking the wickets of new opening pair of Sam Billings (4) and Sunil Narine (5) to reduce KKR to 2 for 10 in the third over. 

Attacking left-hander Nicholas Pooran was the most expensive West Indian purchase at the 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL) auction which began on Saturday.

Pooran went to the Sunrisers Hyderabad franchise for 10.75 crore (USD 1.43 million).

The Sunrisers will be his third IPL franchise after previously representing the Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings.

Jason Holder, formerly of the Sunrisers, will be suiting up for the new Lucknow Super Giants after being snapped up for 8.5 crore (USD 1.16 million).

Dwayne Bravo and Shimron Hetmyer were the only other West Indians sold on day 1 to the Chennai Super Kings for 4.4 crore (USD 583,953.04) and the Rajasthan Royals for 8.5 crore, respectively.

Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, and West Indies white-ball captain Kieron Pollard were all retained by their respective franchises before the auction.

Indian left-hander Ishan Kishan had the honour of being the most expensive pick-up of this year’s auction after going to the Mumbai Indians for 15.25 crore (USD 2.03 million).

Day 2 of the auction takes place on Sunday.