With 18 points following a dominating victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad, who were the second team eliminated after Delhi Capitals, Gujarat Titans became the first team to formally qualify for the playoffs in IPL 2023.
For SRH, what went wrong?
They encountered Shubman Gill in a silken touch, and they later took the brunt of a vicious Mohammed Shami spell, which ended the chase in the powerplay.
There are no responses for Gill
SRH got off to a good start with the ball, having opted to do so, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar catching Wriddhiman Saha behind for a duck. However, the strain was quickly reversed as Gill went mad within the powerplay, which was sparked by four straight boundaries off Fazalhaq Farooqi, who erred in length. The spinners then erred early as Gill ripped four boundaries to bring up his fifty, his sixth of the season, off only 22 balls.
The second fiddle Sudharsan
Sai Sudharsan was playing a patient hand at the opposite end as Gill stormed away. Sudharsan, who replaced the injured Vijay Shankar, made the most of his opportunity, adding 47 runs in a 147-run stand for the second wicket.
First IPL century for Gill
Gill continued to play with ease the entire time, scarcely needing to take any unusual actions. He managed a strike rate of almost 175 despite only hitting one six while bringing up an IPL tonne in a stadium he is quickly claiming as his own after scoring several international tonnes here. With this one, GT was able to attempt a huge finish.
Sputter at the end
However, that wish was not granted as GT lost wickets in large groups in the final overs. They were reduced to 188/9 from 147/1 when Bhuvneshwar Kumar took three wickets in his penultimate over to finish with a 5-wicket haul. At the midway point, the stumble also offered SRH some encouragement.
Hope quickly disappears
Mohammed Shami proved to be particularly challenging to escape as the surface seemed to get faster under the lights. Prior to Rahul Tripathi being caught in the slip cordon, he first had Anmolpreet Singh holing out to the deep on the offside. Soon after, SRH was in ruins thanks to skipper Aiden Markram’s leading edge to cover and Yash Dayal’s strike to remove Abhishek Sharma from the game. The powerplay had clearly gone in GT’s favor at 45/4.
Mohit encircles it
Any expectations of resistance from the middle order were dashed when they were all defeated by the skilled Mohit Sharma. Sanvir Singh, Marco Jansen, and Abdul Samad were all unsuccessful in their attempts to hit the pacer because it proved to be tough to do so. The pursuit was basically finished at 59/7, and it appeared that SRH’s season ended as well.
A final obstacle
Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Heinrich Klaasen’s 68 off 47 for the eighth wicket gave rise to the possibility of an unlikely victory. Before becoming Shami’s fourth victim of the match by holing out to long off and effectively ending SRH’s chances for the season, Klaasen, who had scored his second fifty of the year, was smart with his strokeplay. He also produced an eye-catching loft over cover off Rashid Khan during the course of his 44-ball 64.
Next, what?
Gujarat would try to improve on their qualifying status and top-two finish when they travel to Bengaluru for their final league match against RCB, who would play SRH three days earlier on May 18.