Defending champions Gujarat Titans sealed their spot in a second consecutive final with a thumping 62-run win over Mumbai Indians in qualifier 2 of the 2023 edition of the IPL.
Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bowl first as GT opener Shubman Gill went on an absolute rampage. The 23-year-old notched up his third century of the season with an awe-inspiring display that earned him the Player of the Match award, thanks to his 129 runs off just 60 deliveries.
CSK legend Suresh Raina was astounded by the quality of Gill’s strokeplay and heaped praise on the boy from Fazilka.
“The calmness we saw. In such a big match, body language is very important. The sixes he hit later in the match, ones we call pick-up shots. He hit one off Kartikeya, and after that, he realized that he can come into the line and just hit pick-up shots," Raina said.
The stylish left-handed batsman also expressed that he was very impressed with Gill’s body language and confidence and opined that he could shine in the big games much like his predecessors in the Indian team have.
“I loved his body language, his self-confidence, self-belief, and he’s gotten a habit of playing in big matches. Just look at Virat Kohli, as we saw last year with Jos Buttler. But the performance we saw tonight, whenever we have big games, he will perform as Virat, Rohit, and MS Dhoni have," Raina added.
GT earned the right to defend their title against the mighty CSK in their own backyard with their eliminator win over MI. The team, which triumphed on the first time of asking as they lifted the IPL trophy in their first season last year, have done exceptionally well to produce yet another solid outing this season as ionic Indian spinner Anil Kumble lauded the efforts of the team management and coach Ashish Nehra.
“This season, they have just continued from where they left off last year. In that sense, credit to Hardik, credit to Ashish, and the rest of the players as well. The players have done really well." Kumble said.
Kumble added that the management have done well to bring in new additions to the core team they managed to retain without disturbing the balance that helped them triumph in the previous edition.
“The addition of Josh Little, the addition of Noor Ahmed, I think these two have really helped them and the impact player rule as well, with the addition of Sai Sudarshan and Vijay Shankar coming in and doing their respective roles. Mohit Sharma was brilliant in the back-end, he’ll take the five-wicket haul, but Suryakumar Yadav’s wicket was the critical one" opined Kumble.
GT wrapped MI for 171 runs in 18.2 overs as Mohit Sharma starred with the ball for the holders with an incredible performance of 5 wickets for just 10 runs in 2.2 overs.
Pathiv Patel added that Mohit’s comeback was one of the finest he has witnessed.
“He bowled really well. We were discussing whether 233 runs can be chased on this wicket. The man didn’t even complete his four-over spell but took five wickets. This is a massive day for Mohit Sharma because of the way he was selected this year, last year he was a net bowler with this very team, so getting picked after that is a big deal. We have seen many comeback stories this year and Mohit Sharma’s name should be there as well," Patel expressed.
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