Shubman Gill’s extraordinary century outshined Virat Kohli’s classic knock of 101 runs to help Gujarat Titans (GT) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 6 wickets in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match here at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday.
Gill hit a magnificent 104*(52) to power Gujarat Titans to a thrilling win and knock Royal Challengers out of the tournament at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Kohli had roared again with a second consecutive ton to power Royal Challengers Bangalore to 197/5 but Gill storm hit Bengalure and his 104* trumped Kohli’s 101* as GT knocked RCB out and helped Mumbai Indians qualify for the Play-offs.
Chasing 198, Gujarat Titans got off to a brisk start but lost Wriddhiman Saha inside the Powerplay. Gill and Saha hit three fours in the second over but Siraj struck in the third over to have Saha caught at cover-point where Parnell pulled off an excellent one-handed catch. A couple of streaky fours and a six from Impact Player Vijay Shankar, who replaced Yash Dayal, in the sixth over took GT to 51/1 at the end of the Powerplay.
Gill and Shankar kept chipping away with an odd boundary every over to take GT to 90/1 at the halfway mark. Gill brought up his fifty off 29 balls and then took on Bracewell, hammering two sixes to take 16 runs off the over. Shankar too joined the party as he hit a couple of fours and a massive 106m six off Vijaykumar Vyshak but the bowler bounced back to break the 123-run partnership by having Shankar (53 off 35) caught at deep mid-wicket off the next ball.
GT lost two in quick succession as Dasun Shanaka mistimed his heave to deep mid-wicket in the next over from Harshal Patel.
David Miller arrived and got going with a four-wide of the short fine leg, off the first ball as the equation came down to 43 needed off 24. Vyshak then bowled a decent over, didn’t concede a boundary and gave away nine runs as the equation came down to 34 needed off 18.
Gill then hammered a massive six off the first ball of the next over from Siraj. But the RCB pacer hit back hard to have the dangerous Miller caught at deep point three balls later. Shubman though hit a crucial blow to finish the over as he hammered one over deep mid-wicket for a six to bring the equation down to 19 needed off 12.
Gill continued to hit clean as he smashed another six off Harshal in the penultimate over as GT accumulated 11 runs off the over. With 8 needed off the last over, Faf du Plessis handed over the ball to Parnell. The left-arm pacer started off with a wide but Gill reviewed it for a waist-high no-ball he did it successfully and it was declared a no-ball by the third umpire. Parnell then sprayed one very wide outside off and was called a wide as RCB reviewed it unsuccessfully. With six needed in six, Gill finished it off in style with a cracking six over long-on to bring up his century and win it for GT.(ANI)
