For six balls, Ruturaj Gaikwad made Mohammed Siraj look ordinary. Two towering sixes, a crisp boundary and 14 runs flowed freely as the CSK skipper threatened to turn Ahmedabad into his own stage. But cricket, like theatre, often saves its loudest moment for the perfect cue, and Siraj delivered it on the seventh ball.
The stumps were shattered, the crowd erupted and out came the now-familiar Cristiano Ronaldo-inspired ‘Suiii’ celebration as Siraj roared across the Narendra Modi Stadium on Thursday, May 21. In that instant, the momentum, the chase and perhaps Chennai Super Kings’ entire IPL 2026 campaign came crashing down.GT VS CSK: HIGHLIGHTS | SCORECARD
Siraj’s blistering new-ball spell, which had already begun with the first-ball dismissal of the dangerous Sanju Samson, tore through CSK’s top order and became the defining act in Gujarat Titans’ crushing 89-run victory.
“On a red-soil pitch, I would always try to get Sanju driving,” Siraj said after the game, wearing an exuberant smile on his face.
Removing Urvil Patel for a two-ball duck was the knockout punch, as CSK saw a disastrous end to their powerplay (58/4). And suddenly, a chase of 230 had become a survival mission for CSK, who never truly recovered from the early collapse.
What made Siraj’s spell even more remarkable was the nature of the surface and the conditions earlier in the evening. During Gujarat Titans’ innings, Chennai’s bowlers had struggled to create any sort of pressure. Sai Sudharsan and Shubman Gill had dominated proceedings with a breathtaking opening stand of 125 runs from just 74 deliveries, dismantling the CSK attack with calculated aggression and elegant stroke play.
At no point during the first innings did the pitch appear difficult for batting. The ball came on nicely, the boundaries flowed and Gujarat’s top order dictated terms from the outset. Yet Siraj somehow extracted movement, bounce and uncertainty with the new ball, exposing the difference high-quality fast bowling can make even on batting-friendly surfaces.
“It was a bit spongy to start with. They got off to a good start, a few errors in our bowling, we didn’t execute against their openers,” Gaikwad admitted after the defeat.
“There were phases where we could have capitalised and restricted them to 200, but we failed today.”
POWERPLAY KING
Gujarat captain Shubman Gill had realised that Siraj had been operating in a threatening rhythm and so used him exclusively during the powerplay. It has proved to be a tactical masterstroke for GT in this IPL. By the time Siraj completed his spell, CSK’s batting line-up had already been ripped apart, leaving the middle order with far too much to do.
The numbers underline just how dominant Gujarat’s fast bowlers have been in the powerplay throughout IPL 2026. GT currently possess the best powerplay bowling record in the tournament, claiming 30 wickets in the phase at an astonishing average of 24.16 and a strike rate of 16.8, both league-best figures.
The burden of those wickets has largely been shared between Siraj and Kagiso Rabada. Rabada has picked up 17 wickets in the powerplay this season, while Siraj now has 13. The only other bowler across the league with more than 10 wickets in this phase is Royal Challengers Bengaluru pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has 15.
Siraj explained how the partnership between him and Rabada has become one of Gujarat’s biggest weapons this season.
“I try to build pressure from my end in the powerplay and stay consistent with my areas. If I build pressure, Rabada will take wickets from the other end,” Siraj said.
Ironically, on a night when Rabada proved expensive, Siraj carried the attack almost single-handedly. His figures of 3/26 from three overs included 10 dot balls, each one tightening the screws further on a shell-shocked CSK batting order.
WORK BEHIND THE SUCCESS
But behind the aggression, celebrations and wickets lies a quieter story of technical refinement and personal rebuilding. Siraj revealed after the game that much of his recent success has come from the work he put in during his time away from international cricket during the T20 World Cup.
“The ball is coming out of the hand really well. I worked on myself and my release when I was sitting out during the World Cup,” Siraj explained.
“I watched my videos and got my confidence back.”
That attention to detail has clearly translated onto the field. Siraj’s rhythm with the new ball has looked sharper than ever this year, allowing him to consistently challenge batters with movement, pace and relentless accuracy.
“I practise with the new ball at the beginning to get an idea about my rhythm, then I bowl yorkers for two to three overs,” he added.
In Ahmedabad, all of it came together perfectly. The preparation, the confidence, the aggression and the execution combined to produce a spell that not only destroyed Chennai Super Kings on the night but may well go down as one of the defining powerplay performances of IPL 2026.
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