CHRIS DHAMBARAGE
COLOMBO – Opener Shubman Gill completed his third Indian Premier League (IPL) century to power Gujarat Titans (GT) to the 2023 final with a smashing 62-run victory over Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Qualifier-2 played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday.
The dashing 23-year-old right-hander from Punjab hammered a magnificent 129 – his third century in four innings – from 60 balls with 10 sixes and seven boundaries to help his team reach a massive 233 for three wickets after they were put into bat.
MI’s reply was off to a wretched start as Ishan Kishan didn’t come out to bat because of a concussion, Cameron Green retired hurt early on after being hit on the elbow and Skipper Rohit Sharma was out cheaply.
Paceman Mohit Sharma then bowled a match-turning spell of five wickets for 10 runs as a collective bowling effort saw GT bowl out their opponents for 171 and set up a final showdown against Chennai Super Kings on Sunday at the same venue.
Gill brought up yet another fifty, off 32 balls and then smacked an 89-metre six over deep square leg in the same over off Kumar Kartikeya to lift GT to 91 for one.
Gill went berserk and smashed three sixes off Akash Madhwal before taking on Chawla and hammering two sixes and a four to amass 20 runs off the over.
Gill then brought up his century off just 49 balls in the 15th over and followed it up with two sixes and a four off Green which included a tennis-forehand square smash over deep mid-wicket as they accumulated 19 off the over.
Gill finally fell, holing out to Tim David at deep mid-wicket off Madhwal but Skipper Hardik Pandya’s unbeaten 28 from 13 balls with two fours and two sixes ensured a gigantic total that MI couldn’t even sniff.
Chasing 234, MI were jolted early as Mohammed Shami had Impact Player Nehal Wadhera caught behind off just the fifth ball of the innings.
Things got worse for the visiting side as Rohit walked back in the next over, top edging one high in the air with Josh Little taking a good catch safely.
Tilak Varma injected some much-needed belief with a swashbuckling 43 from 14 balls inclusive of five boundaries and three sixes while Suryakumar Yadav hammered a 38-ball 61 inclusive of two sixes and seven boundaries.
However, Sharma scalped the all-important wicket in the 15th over, rattling Suryakumar’s leg stump with nearly 80 runs needed. Two balls later, Mohit removed Vishnu Vinod before Rashid Khan trapped David in front to bring a swift end to MI’s resistance.
Chief scores
Gujarat Titans: 233/3 in 20 overs (Shubman Gill 129, Sai Sudharsan 43 retired out, Hardik Pandya 28 n.o)
Mumbai Indians: 171 in 18.2 overs (Cameron Green 30, Suryakumar Yadav 61, Tilak Varma 43, Mohammed Shami 2/41, Rashid Khan 2/33, Mohit Sharma 5/10).