Qualifier 2 Review – Gill, Sharma propel Gujarat into consecutive IPL final
Defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT) stormed into the IPL Final after emerging victorious by 62 runs against Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Qualifier 2 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. In doing so, the Titans booked the final spot in the finals. They will lock horns with Chennai Super Kings on Sunday, May 28.
MI skipper Rohit Sharma made the right call during the toss and elected to field first. However, what followed was absolute carnage unleashed by GT opener Shubman Gill as he orchestrated his side’s high-scoring innings. Despite losing Wriddhiman Saha for just 18 runs, Gill shifted gears. He took the rival bowling unit to the cleaners in his 60-ball 129. Furthermore, he raised a vital 138-run stand with Sai Sudharsan which kept the defending champions in the driver’s seat.
With hardly any respite, Sai Sudharsan too joined the party and smoked a few himself in his 43 off 31. Down the order skipper Hardik Pandya took the onus of steering the side towards a humongous score of 233 runs with his unbeaten 28 off 13 balls, which included two fours and as many maximums. The equation was quite simple yet hard for the five-time winner. They just needed to replicate a similar performance and stay on course during the chase. However, the Titans extended their domination. Defending champions got the openers for a combined score of 12 runs within the first two overs of the chase.
Though Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, and Cameron Green tried to put on a show. The sharp rise in the asking run rate got the better of the trio. Meanwhile, seasoned pacer Mohit Sharma recorded a five-wicket haul for just 10 runs in his 2.2 overs. Whereas, Rashid Khan and Mohammed Shami got two wickets each. Gujarat eventually wrapped up the contest with a resounding win by 62 runs.
Top performers from the match
Shubman Gill: The flamboyant opener slammed his third century of the season as he scored a blistering 129 runs off 60 balls, which featured 10 sixes and seven fours at a marvellous strike rate of 215. Gill’s knock eventually propelled his side to attain a massive 200-plus score.
Mohit Sharma: The seasoned pacer sliced through the rival batting line-up with a scintillating five-wicket haul for mere 10 runs at an impressive economy of 4.28.
What’s next for both teams?
Gujarat will lock horns with Chennai in the summit clash of the IPL 2023 on May 28. While, Mumbai are knocked-out after facing defeat vs Gujarat
