Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) opening duo of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway has been prolific this season. Both of them have 550+ runs to their name and have consistently provided the team with good starts.

Gaikwad and Conway starred with the bat in CSK’s 15-run victory over Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 1 of IPL 2023 at Chepauk on Tuesday (May 23).

The pair added 87 runs for the opening wicket to lead the foundation of CSK’s 172/7 on the board. While Gaikwad scored 60 off 44 balls, Conway returned with 40 off 34 balls.

After the game, Ruturaj Gaikwad opened up on his partnerships with Devon Conway and Faf du Plessis and said that the Kiwi batter has great batsmanship when it comes to finding gaps and rotating strike.

Notably, Gaikwad formed a formidable opening partnership with Du Plessis and played a key role in CSK’s IPL 2021 triumph.

“Both are obviously great international players. That helps me personally. Faf is someone who is aggressive from ball one while Devon has great batsmanship with gaps and rotating strike. He has been a great support especially in tough conditions," said Ruturaj in the post-match presentation.

For his match-winning knock, Ruturaj Gaikwad was adjudged Player-of-the-Match in Qualifier 1.

Talking about the Chepauk track, the right-hander said it has been different in the last few games and he had to adapt his batting.

"The last 3-4 games in Chennai have been different. They've gotten slightly slower, slightly sticky. So I had to adapt my batsmanship. This was one of my days where I was going well," he stated.

With the victory over GT in Qualifier 1, CSK qualified for the IPL 2023 final, slated to be held at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Sunday (May 28).