Shubhaman Gill Ton.Gujarat Become First Team To Qualify For Playoffs

Shubman Gill has taken a special affinity to Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium. Prior to the commencement of IPL 2023, he had scored a century against Australia at the Motera ground in a Test series. In February, he scored 126 not out off 63 balls against New Zealand in a T20 international at the same venue.

On Monday, the opening batsman for the Gujarat Titans entertained the Ahmedabad throng with another display of classical strokeplay en route to his first IPL century – 101 off 58 balls. It followed his equally impressive 94* off 51 deliveries against the Lucknow Super Giants on his IPL home turf.

Gill's magnificent innings helped GT win the game by 34 runs and secure a spot in the league's top two. SRH became the second team to be eliminated from the playoff competition, following Delhi Capitals.

Gill's runs were particularly valuable, as B Sai Sudharshan was the only other GT batsman to reach double figures. The two shared a 147-run second wicket stand, to which Sudarshan contributed 47 (36 deliveries). After losing their first wicket for zero runs, Gill dominated the stand by scoring 89 runs off 48 deliveries with 12 fours and one six.

Gill dismantled the bowling attack with precise strokes. It was risk-free to bat, as the strike rate was 174.13 percent. The strike contained only one six. The key to his success was reducing the number of dot discs. He utilized the pull shot effectively, striking five of his thirteen fours and his lone six to the midwicket region.

Late collapse

However, the host team will not be pleased with their performance in the slog overs. They were 147/1 at the conclusion of the fourteenth over. However, the innings collapsed after pacer Marco Jansen removed Sudarshan, breaking the century partnership between Gill and Sudarshan.

Their top hitters, Hardik Pandya, David Miller, and Rahul Tewatia, all fell consecutively. The veteran Bhuvneshwar Kumar returned to deliver an outstanding final over in which the GT lost four wickets and scored only two runs. After the 12th over of their innings, the hosts had no overs of 10 or more.

SRH suffer a defeat

Despite concluding bowling effectively, SRH was unable to capitalize on the momentum gained. The GT pace attack of Mohammed Shami, Yash Dayal, and Mohit Sharma reduced the visitors to 49/6 in a forlorn position.

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The elite pacer Shami dispatched their top order with a three-wicket spell. After 4.2 overs, SRH were 29/4 with Shami having taken a wicket in each of his first three overs for figures of 3-0-17-3. SRH were left reeling at 49 for six after Mohit Sharma delivered a double strike in his first over, the seventh of the innings.

Heinrich Klassen headed the SRH's defensive efforts with a fifty (64 off 44 balls).

Gill assumes command

SRH elected to bowl after winning the toss, but after Bhuvneshwar's remarkable first over, their performance deteriorated dramatically. Gill was in sublime touch from the first delivery, contributing 12, 15, and 18 runs to help GT reach 50 runs in four overs.

First, he exploited Bhuvneshwar, scoring 10 runs off the first three balls he encountered to throw off the pacer's rhythm. In the fourth over, the elegant opener smashed the left-arm pacer Farooqi for four fours with a draw shot, flick, punch through cover, and glide to fine leg.

Jansen did well to limit GT to just five runs in the fifth over, but H Natarajan gave the hosts two more fours in the sixth over to end the powerplay at 65/1 after six overs.Aiden Markram's attempt to use spin against Gill with a more dispersed field after the powerplay period also failed.

The beauty of the partnership lied in the fact that it exhibited minimal power hitting. After 15 fours and 10 overs, the first six of the innings was scored after the 10-over mark. Sai Sudharsan moved across to utilize Marco Jansen's speed and bowl him over fine leg.