Gujarat Titans have appeared to have carried on from where they left off last season, with the defending champions turning out to be standout team in the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) so far.
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It is, therefore, only fitting that the Hardik Pandya-led side became the first team to qualify for the playoffs this season while also maintaining their No 1 position on the leaderboard, which they achieved with a clinical victory against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Monday.
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Gujarat had been given a rude jolt by the Mumbai Indians on Friday at the Wankhede Stadium, where they were headed for disaster before a cameo from Rashid Khan helped reduce the margin of defeat.
Three days later, GT were back to winning ways, bossing the ‘Orange Army’ in every department to register a comprehensive win and ensure they maintain a hundred per cent record as far as reaching the knockouts is concerned.
Gill shines bright
SRH skipper Markram invited GT to have a bat first on what was a fresh wicket at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, where the Titans were hosting their final home game of the season. And for a brief moment, Markram’s decision appeared to have paid off with Bhuvneshwar Kumar getting rid of wicketkeeper-batter Wriddhiman Saha in the very first over of the Gujarat innings.
In-form opener Shubman Gill had been responsible for getting his team off to many a promising start this season. Following Saha’s early exit, however, Gill decided to take charge of the innings and did not waste much time in launching a counter-attack against the Sunrisers — getting off the mark by running three off Bhuvi’s bowling and collecting a boundary off the same bowler the next time he was on strike.
GT, however, truly took off when Gill smashed Afghanistan seamer Fazalhaq Farooqi for four consecutive boundaries, resulting in an 18-run over that brought up the 50 inside just four overs. From that point onwards, it was a one-way traffic in favour of the Titans as Gill and Sai Sudharsan continued finding boundaries at will while maintaining a run-rate above 10 till the very end of their partnership.
The Punjab batter, meanwhile, had come close to the three-figure mark a couple of times in the past in the IPL — he had been dismissed for 96 against Punjab Kings last season, and remained unbeaten on 94 against Lucknow Super Giants last Sunday. This time, however, the 23-year-old was not going to fall short again as he ended up completing the milestone in 56 deliveries.
Gill however, would depart in a dramatic final over in which GT ended up losing four wickets for just two runs that helped Bhuvneshwar complete his second IPL five-for. And despite being superbly placed for a score in the range of 210-220 at one stage, Gujarat ended up falling 12 short of 200 as none of the batters other than Gill and Sudharsan turned up on the day.
SRH’s hopes fade away with another sub-par batting performance
The momentum certainly had shifted towards the Sunrisers at the end of the Gujarat innings thanks to the flurry of wickets in the death overs with the home team losing six wickets for 19 runs. One wondered if the late collapse would end up costing the Titans a second consecutive match.
While the batting unit did not quite fire as a unit and relied mainly on a majestic ton and a supporting act, the bowling unit hunted in a pack and dominated the SRH batters from the very first over, with Mohammed Shami and Mohit Sharma leading the way by grabbing four wickets each in largely similar performances.
The procession began with Shami removing Impact Player Anmolpreet Singh in the very first over after the latter went for a rash pull that resulted in a thick top edge and an easy catch for Rashid. Left-arm seamer Yash Dayal then struck in his very first over since the infamous 20th during the home game against Kolkata Knight Riders, removing the other opener Abhishek Sharma.
Shami would then remove Rahul Tripathi and opposition skipper Markram in each of his next two overs, while Mohit announced himself by getting rid of Sanvir Singh and Abdul Samad in his very first over right after the powerplay. Mohit then removed Marco Jansen in his subsequent over as SRH were reduced to 59/7, with the prospect of even crossing 100 appearing difficult at that stage.
A fighting half-century from Heinrich Klaasen (64 off 44) — his second of the season — along with cameos from Bhuvneshwar (27) and Mayank Markande (18) did briefly ignite hopes of a miraculous turnaround, especially till the time the South African was around.
Gujarat, however, managed to close off on a tidy note with Shami and Mohit grabbing a wicket each in the slog overs to sign off with four-fers as the Sunrisers fell well short and failed to reach the playoffs in yet another edition.
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