CHRIS DHAMBARAGE
COLOMBO – Opener Shubman Gill scored his second IPL hundred this season as Gujarat Titans pulled off an exciting six-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the 70th match of the tournament played at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday.
The 23-year-old elegant right-hander smashed an unbeaten 104 from 52 balls as Gujarat chased down RCB’s challenging total of 197 for five with six wickets and five deliveries to spare.
Gill reached his hundred with the aid of five fours and eight sixes and sent RCB out of the IPL 2023 with Mumbai Indians taking the last Playoffs spot having earlier defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Gill is the second batter to record two hundreds this season, behind Virat Kohli who hammered his seventh IPL hundred in the first innings for RCB.
Gill also became the fourth batsman after Shikhar Dhawan, Jos Buttler and Kohli to slam successive IPL hundreds.
Gill sparkled with his iron-fist-in-a-velvet-glove batting style as he scored the odd boundary, worked the doubles, and showed his class in the eight sumptuous hits into the stands.
In fact, two of those sixes came in the 18th over from the bowling of Mohammed Siraj. With 34 runs needed from 18 balls, Gill swung one over deep mid-wicket and flat-batted another beyond the rope.
With eight runs needed from the last over, Wayne Parnell bowled a no-ball and a wide before Gill added the finishing touches with a six over the long-on boundary.
Gill is the second batter to record two hundreds this season, behind Virat Kohli who had earlier scored his seventh IPL ton in the first innings for RCB.
Thunderstorms delayed the start of the contest by 55 minutes, and after the rain fury, RCB began sedately before Kohli and Francois du Plessis exploded, scoring nine boundaries in a span of 13 deliveries.
Hardik Pandya had to summon Rashid Khan, and the Afghan, along with compatriot Noor Ahmad, to slam the brakes. From overs seven to 10, RCB added just 31 runs to its Powerplay score of 62, and lost du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell and Mahipal Lomror.
However, all-rounder Michael Bracewell shifted gears with a 16-ball 26 inclusive of five boundaries before Kohli provided the end-overs flourish, with some clever batting.
Kohli’s century came off just 60 balls, but it didn’t provide the happy ending he would have craved for.
Chief scores
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 197/5 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 101 n.o, Francois du Plessis 28, Michael Bracewell 26, Anuj Rawat 23 n.o, Noor Ahmad 2/39)
Gujarat Titans: 198/4 in 19.1 overs (Shubman Gill 104 n.o, Vijay Shankar 53, Mohammed Siraj 2/32).
