With his third century of the year, Shubman Gill continued his incredible run score as Gujarat Titans defeated Mumbai Indians by 62 runs on Friday in Ahmedabad to advance to their second straight IPL final.
Gujarat Titans scored a huge 233/3 thanks to Gill’s 60-ball 129 (7 fours and 10 sixes), and Mumbai Indians responded valiantly in Qualifier 2 despite suffering from a number of injuries thanks to Suryakumar Yadav (61) and Tilak Varma (43).
When Mohit Sharma, who had only been bowling for 15 overs, finished with figures of 2.2-0-10-5, MI collapsed, going from 149/4 in 14 overs to 171 all-out in 18.2 overs.
With yet another sensational knock, the 23-year-old Gill increased his tally to 851 runs and recorded the highest season total of any batter by scoring his third century in the last four innings.
After Virat Kohli (2016) and David Warner (2016), Gill is the only other Indian batsman to have scored more than 800 runs in an IPL season thanks to his explosive performance.
Ishan Kishan was replaced in MI’s batting order as they changed overs in the first innings after he collided with Chris Jordan and injured his eye while attempting to chase down 234 runs.
Hardik Pandya also struck Rohit Sharma in the hand while he was fielding, and Cameron Green had to retire hurt after being struck by him on the left forearm.
Nehal Wadhera (4) and Rohit (8), Mumbai’s temporary openers, were both removed by Mohammad Shami in the first over.However, Varma took on the India and GT pace spearhead, hitting four fours and a six to score 24 runs off the fifth over.
Rashid Khan cleaned him up after a 14-ball 43 (5x4s, 3×6), ending Varma’s brief blitz. After the powerplay, MI scored 72 goals.
In the 10th over, Suryakumar and Green’s fourth wicket partnership propelled MI past the 100-run mark, but Josh Little’s dismissal of the Australian in the 12th over put an end to their resistance.In his 20-ball 30 innings, Green hit two sixes and four fours.
With 61 from 38 balls and seven fours and two sixes, Suryakumar attempted to extend the game, but he lost his leg stump while trying to hit Mohit Sharma close to fine leg.
Rashid ended MI’s chances with the dismissal of Tim David (2) in the 16th over after Mohit struck again to remove Vishnu Vinod (5) in the same over.
Earlier, B Sai Sudharsan, who happily played second fiddle with a 31-ball 43 before being retired out, and Gill added 138 runs for the second wicket after beginning the innings solidly and turning brutal in the second half.
In order to surpass the 800-run threshold, Gill hit three sixes off MI’s game-winning bowler, Akash Madhwal (1/53), in the 12th over.
At the Narendra Modi Stadium, he hit a barrage of sixes against both seamers and spinners to reach fifty off 32 balls with two sixes and three fours.
The Mumbai Indians were the losers on both occasions as Gill surpassed Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 62-ball 124 to score the highest individual score this season.
The 23-year-old also passed RCB’s Faf du Plessis (730 runs) to win the Orange Cap in the process.
In addition, Gill’s 129 surpassed Virender Sehwag’s 122 against Chennai Super Kings in the 2014 campaign as the top batter’s score in the IPL playoffs.Rain caused a 30-minute delay in the start of the race, but GT got underway slowly.
Gill was given a lifeline at the end of the sixth over when Tim David at midfield dropped a catch, ending the powerplay for GT at 50/0.
Gill had great luck because he managed to survive against Kumar Kartikeya twice in as many balls.When the batter went down the track and had an inside edge deflect the ball into his pads, Kishan was unable to run-out the batter. Gill then hit the next delivery in the air, only to find the ball dropping very close to the fielder at deep midwicket.
Category: Sports, Entertainment
Tag: Cricket, Sports, IPL
