Images from the Indian Premier League match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Gujarat Titans, at the M. Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru, on Sunday.
Shubman Gill reaffirmed his status as Virat Kohli's heir apparent with a magnificent hundred as Gujarat Titans knocked Royal Challengers Bangalore out of IPL 2023 with a six-wicket win, allowing Mumbai Indians to sneak through as the fourth team in the play-offs, in Bengaluru, on Sunday.
After Kohli scored a 61-ball 101 to steer Royal Challengers Bangalore to a healthy 197/5, it looked like the best effort on the day but Gill, who is touted to be the next big thing in Indian cricket, showed his class with a magnificent century in the run chase.
Gill smashed an unbeaten 104 off 52 balls, hitting Wayne Parnell for a six to finish off the match in grand style. Like Kohli, this was Gill's second successive hundred.
Titans finished the league engagements with 20 points, while CSK ended second with 17 points ahead of Lucknow Super Giants on a better net run-rate. Mumbai Indians, after their eight-wicket win against SRH, clinched the last play-off spot with 16 points.
With 34 needed off three overs, Gill's short-arm half-jab, half-pull off Mohammed Siraj was the killer blow, and then he hit him for another six to kill the contest as Kohli knocked his head in disbelief in the dugout.
RCB had their fate in their own hands but poor execution while defending a healthy total became their undoing.
Gill was outstanding in his touch-play against pacers with that extra split second to play his shots while the regal footwork against leg-spinner Himanshu Sharma was a connoisseur's delight.
The delightful flick behind square off Michael Bracewell's off-break was easily the shot of the night, which was followed by a monster six over long-on.
Gill had an able ally in Vijay Shankar (53 off 35 balls) as the duo added 123 runs for the second wicket to help Gujarat sustain the momentum in the middle overs.
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The difference between Gill's match-winning knock and Kohli's effort was the support at the other end. While Kohli had to single-handedly do all the heavy-lifting, Gill found support at the other end.
Also RCB had multiple weak links in their bowling unit and Gill very cleverly targeted the slow bowlers with leg-spinner Himanshu and off-spinner Bracewell in their four overs giving away 44 runs while 40 came off inexperienced Vijaykumar Vyshak's spell.
Earlier, Virat Kohli was the lone ranger as his second successive century powered Royal Challengers Bangalore to a challenging 197/5 in their must-win final IPL league game against Gujarat Titans.
With the rain gods threatening to spoil RCB's play-off plans during the day, the match, which started half an hour late, saw Kohli (101 not out off 61 balls) regain his 2016 avatar. He held all the aces during his blazing knock, which was studded with 13 fours and a six.
His innings was priceless in the context that none of the other RCB batters could even reach 30. Just like the good old days, 'King Kohli' set the narrative by playing with line, length and minds of the bowlers.
This was his seventh IPL hundred. In the process he surpassed Chris Gayle as the batter with highest number of tournament tons.
Considering that the Chinnaswamy stadium is known for batting belters, the final total, though competitive enough, could still be about 10 runs below par.
Kohli and skipper Faf Du Plessis (28) got off to a rollicking start, with a flurry of boundaries against Mohammed Shami (1/39 in 4 overs) and the already distraught Yash Dayal in the powerplay.
They were dispatched for as many as nine boundaries which prompted Hardik Pandya to quickly press his main weapon, Rashid Khan (1/24 in 4 overs), into action to stem the flow of runs.
After conceding 62 runs in six powerplay overs, Rashid and his 'left-arm mirror image' Noor Ahmed (2/39 in 4 overs) put the brakes on the scoring.
Noor dismissed Faf du Plessis while the batter tried to hit him inside in a freakish manner. The edge hit Wriddhiman Saha's pads and lobbed up for Rahul Tewatia to complete an easy catch.
Glenn Maxwell started off well but Rashid bowled one that was fast and full and just broke back enough to breach the defence of the batter as RCB suddenly found themselves in a rut.
It became worse when Noor dragged Mahipal Lomror with one that turned the other way and Saha completed a leg-side stumping with the finesse that is associated with him for years now.
Michael Bracewell (26), however, took some pressure off Kohli at the other end with Mohit Sharma's slower balls not working well on this occasion.
In his first three overs, he was hit for seven fours and it was Shami who got Bracewell before he could inflict more damage and Dayal had something finally going for him when Dinesh Karthik's woeful season got worse.
Kohli continued to fight as RCB ended up with 197.
