In the form of his life, the young Shubman Gill dished out another masterclass with an enterprising century as defending champions Gujarat Titans gunned down the mighty Mumbai Indians to storm into the IPL-16 final in impressive fashion here on Friday.
Seeing the white leather ball like a football and timing it as good as he ever has, the 23-year-old Gill hammered a superb 129 (60b, 7x4, 10x6) — his third century this IPL — as Gujarat Titans, making the most of the home comfort at the Narendra Modi Stadium, posted an imposing 233/3.
Not for nothing are Mumbai record five time winners of this tournament. They lost two early wickets but the trio of Suryakumar Yadav (61), Tilak Varma (43) and Cameron Green (30) refused to get cowed down, keeping their side in the chase till the halfway stage with blistering batting. But the task proved too steep and MI were eventually bowled out for 171, Mohit Sharma quelling their fight with a 5/10 effort. GT will take on Chennai Super Kings in the final here on Sunday.
IPL is all about offering opportunities for young players to make a name for themselves. While Gill has already done more than that, representing India in all three formats and scoring a century in each of them, he has taken his batting and attitude to a whole different level in terms of hunger, desire and passion this IPL. All of them have been evident in ample measure over the last fortnight and it reached a crescendo on a hot Friday evening.
Gill just took a brief while to settle down but from the moment he struck a boundary off Green in the fifth ball of the second over, he was in the mood to go for the kill. Till the Powerplay he dealt largely in boundaries but once the fielding restrictions were removed, he spoke only in sixes as MI skipper Rohit Sharma watched in agony the ball soaring into the stands frequently.
Gorgeous sixes straight down the ground, flicks behind and front of square, hook shots over midwicket, drives over extra cover, even a tennis like forehand over midwicket, Gill unleashed every shot he had in his book to send the near-capacity crowd here into raptures.
Be it Akash Madhwal, the hero in Mumbai’s Eliminator win, Piyush Chawla, Chris Jordan, Cameron Green or Kumar Kartikeya, none was spared by Gill.
Majestic ton
As he galloped to a majestic ton of just 49 balls in the first ball off the 15th over, the talk was about how much can Gill can get and what total can he propel Gujarat to. Gill, who was dropped by Tim David while on 30 in the sixth over, expectedly went for the jugular after reaching the milestone three-figure mark. Mumbai’s only hope at that stage was Gill gets himself out because it was that sort of a day where whatever he touched was turning into gold.
As he kept batting on nitro mode in energy-sapping conditions — high heat coupled with high humidity — Gill’s battery began to burn out and he finally departed in the 17th over, holing out to David in the deep. It was a tired shot and he walked a tad disappointed but he’d just played a special innings and everyone stood in applause to hail once in a generational talent.
SCORE BOARD
GUJARAT TITANS: Wriddhiman Saha st Kishan b Chawla 18 (16b, 3x4), Shubman Gill c David b Madhwal 129 (60b, 7x4, 10x6), Sai Sudarshan (retired out) 43 (31b, 5x4, 1x6), Hardik Pandya (not out) 28 (13b, 2x4, 2x6), Rashid Khan (not out) 5 (2b, 1x4). Extras (LB-2, NB-2, W-6) 10. TOTAL (for 3 wkts, 20 overs) 233.
Fall of wickets: 1-54 (Saha), 2-192 (Gill), 3-214 (Sudharshan),
Bowling: Jason Behrendorff 4-0-28-0, Cameron Green 3-0-35-0, Akash Madhwal 4-0-52-1, Chris Jordan 4-0-56-0, Piyush Chawla 3-0-45-1, Kumar Kartikeya 2-0-15-0.
MUMBAI INDIANS: Rohit Sharma c Little b Shami 8 (7b, 1x4), Nehal Wadhera c Saha b Shami 4 (3b, 1x4), Cameron Green b Little 30 (20b, 2x4, 2x6), Suryakumar Yadav b Mohit 61 (38b, 7x4, 2x6), Tilak Varma b Rashid 43 (14b, 5x4, 3x6), Vishnu Vinod c Pandya b Mohit 5 (7b), Tim David lbw Rashid 2 (3b), Chris Jordan c Sudarshan b Mohit 2 (5b), Piyush Chawla c Miller b Mohit 0 (2b), Kumar Kartikeya c Miller b Mohit 6 (7b, 1x4), Jason Behrendorff (not out) 3 (5b). Extras (LB-2, NB-1, W-4). TOTAL (all out, 18.2 overs) 171.
Fall of wickets: 1-5 (Wadhera), 2-21 (Rohit), 3-72 (Verma), 4-124 (Green), 5-155 (Suryakumar), 6-156 (Vinod), 7-158 (David), 8-161 (Jordan), 9-162 (Chawla).
Bowling: Mohammed Shami 3-0-41-2, Hardik Pandya 2-0-24-0, Rashid Khan 4-0-33-2, Noor Ahmed 4-0-35-0, Josh Little 3-0-26-1, Mohit Sharma 2.2-0-10-5.
Result: GT won by 62 runs.
PoM: Shubman Gill