Ton-up Gill helps Gtthrash MI to face CSK in title showdown
Gill’s 60-ball 129 powered GT to 233-3, a total they defended by bowling out MI for 171 in 18.2 overs in the final playoff. He became the leading batsman this season with 851 runs, surpassing RCB’S Du Plessis (730)
Gujrat Titans’ Shubman Gill plays a shot against Mumbai Indians during their IPL qualifier match in Ahmedabad on Friday.
Ahmedabad: Shubman Gill’s sensational 129 off 60 balls followed by veteran pacer Mohit Sharma’s impressive fifer (5/10) helped Gujarat Titans (GT) thrash Mumbai Indians (MI) by 62 runs in Qualifier 2 and reached the final of the IPL 2023 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday.
The win also meant that Gujarat entered the IPL final for the second successive time and will meet Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Sunday’s title clash at the same venue. Co-incidentally, the first match of IPL 2023 was between Gujarat and Chennai at the very same venue on March 31.
Chasing 234 was always going to be an uphill task for Mumbai. Mohammed Shami struck in his very first over when makeshit opener Nehal Wadhera went for a pull, only to edge behind to keeper. Cameron Green got going with a firstball four, but retired hurt in second over ater being hit on let forearm while trying to fend off Hardik Pandya.
Shami struck again in his second over as Rohit Sharma top-edged a pull to fine leg. Tilak Varma got going by flicking and pulling for two sixes in his first four balls. The let-handed bater smashed Shami for four consecutive boundaries -- via late cut, pull and driving twice, before pulling him for six to take 24 runs off the fith over as Mumbai raced to 65/2.
Rashid Khan brought an end to Varma’s cameo as the youngster missed a straighter delivery on sweep and was castled, bringing an end to his glitering cameo. Green returned to resume his innings and along with Suryakumar Yadav, the duo hit four boundaries and two sixes collectively against Rashid and Noor Ahmad.
Their partnership came to an end when Green tried to pull off Josh Litle, but was castled in the 12th over. Suryakumar maintained the tempo with fours off Noor and Litle, before reaching his fity in 33 balls with a scooped six off the let-arm pacer over fine leg.
He welcomed Mohit Sharma with a pulled six, but the pacer bounced back immediately as Suryakumar went for another scoop, and saw his leg-stump castled. Concussion substitute Vishnu Vinod also fell to Mohit ater spooning a catch to cover, followed by Tim David trapped lbw by Rashid. Mohit took the remaining three wickets to clinch a five-wicket haul in just 14 balls, thus sealing Gujarat’s place in the final.
Ater scoring his third century of the season, Shubman Gill said he wished if it was possible to carry the pitch of the Narendra Modi Stadium here, everywhere, to continue his purple patch.
“I wish this was possible - I will carry it ((Ahmedabad pitch) everywhere. I think we have got a good total on board and hopefully we’ll be able to defend this one. We needed that (innings). We have played our best cricket whenever we have lost a match. This is just one of those days,” said Gill in a mid-innings chat with broadcasters.
In the process of hiting 129 with the help of ten sixes and seven fours while taking Mumbai’s bowlers to cleaners all over the park as Gujarat posted 223/3, Gill overtook Faf du Plessis to be the highest run-geter of the ongoing season.
“I went to the washroom to set my hair, didn’t think I’d been wearing this. It feels nice,” he replied on geting the orange cap.
The opener felt bating became easier ater initial overs.
“The first couple of overs, it (held) a bit on the surface and ater that because there was not as much grass on the wicket, the ball was coming on nicely,” he said.
“I think also because of the oufield being a litle wet (because of rain delaying the start of the match by 30 minutes), the ball stopped swinging ater two overs and it got easier as we progressed into the innings,” he added.
A significant moment in the match was Gill being dropped by Tim David in the last over of the powerplay. The right-hander bater was on 30 off 19 balls when he was dropped and it proved to be very costly as he made 99 runs off 40 balls post that, including geting his century in 49 balls. Gill also pointed out strike-rotation played an essential part in his innings.