Gujarat Titans began the defense of their title with a five-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings in the IPL opener on Friday. Opener Ruturaj Gaikwad cracked a blistering 92 off 50 balls to power Chennai Super Kings to 178/7 after being asked to bat. Shubman Gill was the top scorer for the Titans, scoring a 36-ball 63. Earlier, Gaikwad smashed nine sixes even though wickets fell at regular intervals at the other end.

Gujarat captain Hardik Pandya won the toss and decided to bowl first. David Conway returned to the pavilion with Shami first. Rituraj Gaikwad started with the bat with Moin Ali. He did not complete his century for 8 runs. He had to leave the field after scoring 92 runs. Chennai Super Kings reached 178/7 on Rituraj Gaikwad's fast batting. In reply, Gujarat Titans reached the target of winning by losing 5 wickets and scoring 182 runs. Shubman Gill took Gujarat to the victory target by playing a fast inning of 63 runs from 36 balls. The rest is done by Rashid Khan and Rahul Tewatia. In the beginning, Shubman was helped by Wriiddhiman Saha. He got out for 25 off 16 balls. Instead of Kane Williamson, Gujarat, he named Sai Sudarshan as an 'Impact Player'. Sai Sudarshan, who dropped to number three, was dismissed for 22 runs off 17 balls. Gujarat lost 3 wickets for 111 runs. Then Shubman and Vijay Shankar took the team forward. Impact player Tushar Deshpande broke the pair in the last ball of the 15th over. Picked up by Shubman Gill. Then Vijay Shankar was taking control of the match. But he also went on to win the out. Then Rashid Khan and Rahul Tewatia returned to win the game.

The 16th Indian Premier League started with the song of Bengal's Arijit Singh. He came to the stage of the grand opening ceremony and mesmerized everyone with one song after another hit songs like 'Keshriya', 'Channa Mereya', and 'Kabira' one after the other. He stopped singing and said, "I have never sung in front of such an audience. Forgive me if I am wrong.”

Tamannaah Bhatia and Rashmika Mandana came on stage after Arijit. Rashmika Mandana danced to the song of her blockbuster movie 'Pushpa'. After that, the Oscar-winning song 'Natu Natu' played. Rashmika Mandana danced to the rhythm of that song.