Ahmedabad, May 27 (IANS) Shubman Gill’s sensational 129 off 60 balls followed by veteran pacer Mohit Sharma’s impressive fifer (5/10) helped Gujarat Titans thrash Mumbai Indians by 62 runs in Qualifier 2 and reach the final of the IPL 2023 at the Narendra Modi Stadium, here on Friday.
The win also meant that Gujarat entered the IPL final for the second successive time and will meet Chennai Super Kings in Sunday’s title clash at the same venue. Co-incidentally, the first match of IPL 2023 was between Gujarat and Chennai at the very same venue on March 31.
Chasing 234 was always going to be an uphill task for Mumbai. Mohammed Shami struck in his very first over when makeshift opener Nehal Wadhera went for a pull, only to edge behind to keeper. Cameron Green got going with a first-ball four, but retired hurt in second over after being hit on left forearm while trying to fend off Hardik Pandya.
Shami struck again in his second over as Rohit Sharma top-edged a pull to fine leg. Tilak Varma got going by flicking and pulling for two sixes in his first four balls. The left-handed batter smashed Shami for four consecutive boundaries — via late cut, pull and driving twice, before pulling him for six to take 24 runs off the fifth over as Mumbai raced to 65/2.
Rashid Khan brought an end to Varma’s cameo as the youngster missed a straighter delivery on sweep and was castled, bringing an end to his glittering cameo. Green returned to resume his innings and along with Suryakumar Yadav, the duo hit four boundaries and two sixes collectively against Rashid and Noor Ahmad.
Their partnership came to an end when Green tried to pull off Josh Little, but was castled in the 12th over. Suryakumar maintained the tempo with fours off Noor and Little, before reaching his fifty in 33 balls with a scooped six off the left-arm pacer over fine leg.
He welcomed Mohit Sharma with a pulled six, but the pacer bounced back immediately as Suryakumar went for another scoop, and saw his leg-stump castled. Concussion substitute Vishnu Vinod also fell to Mohit after spooning a catch to cover, followed by Tim David trapped lbw by Rashid. Mohit took the remaining three wickets to clinch a five-wicket haul in just 14 balls, thus sealing Gujarat’s place in the final.
Brief Scores: Gujarat Titans 233/3 in 20 overs (Shubman Gill 129, B Sai Sudharsan 43; Piyush Chawla 1/45) beat Mumbai Indians 171 in 18.2 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 61, Tilak Varma 43; Mohit Sharma 5/10, Rashid Khan 2/33) by 62 runs.
–IANS
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