'Sai Sudharsan is someone who works very hard on his game; for someone like him to be able to execute those shots was just magnificent.'
Gujarat Titans skipper Shubman Gill is optimistic about sneaking into the IPL play-offs, even though odds are heavily against them despite the 35-run victory over Chennai Super Kings in Ahmedabad on Friday.
Gill (104 off 55 balls) and B Sai Sudharsan (103 off 51) scored destructive centuries to propel Gujarat Titans to 231 for 3 and then restricted the defending champions to 196 for 8 to stay alive in the play-offs race.
The victory lifted GT from the bottom of the table to the eighth spot. They have 10 points from 12 games, while CSK remained fourth with 12 points.
"The chances of us qualifying was 0.1 or 1 per cent. I think all of us, all 25-30 of us, believe that we can still make it into the play-offs.
"Because I have seen miracles happen with this team in the past couple of years and we all do believe in that," said Gill at the post-match press conference.
He, however, felt that GT were a few runs short despite piling up a huge total.
"When I got out, I was a bit frustrated. I thought as a batting unit we left 10-25 runs out there. At one point we were 195 without loss in 15 overs, so I thought that 250 was a pretty gettable score and I was thinking about that.
"It is as satisfactory as any hundred. We lost our last three games and it was important for us to win this one and that is what me and Sai were discussing. We were trying to maximise every opportunity and every challenge that was thrown at us."
The young skipper also had words of appreciation for opening partner Sudharsan.
"Last year he (Sudharsan) missed a hundred in the final, having come back and the way he played in the middle overs is exceptional.
"He is someone who works very hard on his game; for someone like him to be able to execute those shots was just magnificent," Gill said.
Talking about the talismanic Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who played a 11-ball 26-run cameo with three sixes, and his fan following, Gill said, "Wherever Mahi bhai plays, it is their (CSK) home ground, so nothing different with that.
"But at least when we were scoring, people were cheering for us and when we visited Chepauk, it was complete silence when we hit boundaries or took a wicket."
