Gujarat Titans have locked their spot in the Play-Offs with another commanding performance, this time versus Sunrisers Hyderabad in Ahmedabad on Monday, May 15, 2023.
And once again they rode on the backs of the very two players who have been lethal throughout this IPL season.
First it was Shubman Gill, who with his immaculate touch keeps all in awe of his batting. His wonderful wrist work, those awe-inspring cover drives or those effortlessly hit sixes and fours, Gill brought them out for display against a hapless SRH bowling attack.
His sublime timing and runs to all parts of the ground, had SRH fielders chase leather. He didn't put one foot wrong and punished the deliveries that were there for the taking. He brought up his half-century, his 5th this season, off just 22 deliveries.
He batted with awareness, doing well to pierce the infield and bisecting fielders with his wonderful stroke-making.
He rotated the strike well with Sai Sudarshan and the duo put on a 147-run stand. Although the tempo of his run-scoring was affected after the wickets of Sudarshan and other batters around him, Gill scored his maiden IPL 100 off 56 deliveries.
Gill now has 576 runs this season, making him the leading run-scorer among Indian batters -- Yashaswi Jaiswal trailing him by just one run.
GT put on 189 for 9 on the board and it was once again GT's talisman Mohammed Shami who gave them a bright start.
He made early inroads and struck thrice in the Powerplay overs to have SRH on the backfoot in no time. Once again he kept his bowling tight with the ball seaming occasion to have the batters in all sorts of trouble.
He was not finished then and he came back in the 17th over to break the 68-run stand between Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Heinrich Klaasen, to put GT on the path to victory and finish with a four-wicket haul.
For Sunrisers, Bhuvi took the honours with a fifer -- the final over a stand out where the Titans lost four wickets and managed to add just 2 runs. He then came out to bat with his team tottering at 59 for 7 in the 9th over.
He joined Klaasen, who hit a half-century, but their fighting partnership of 68 was never going to be enough to keep the team alive in the tournament.
