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Shubman Gill jabbed a short of length delivery off T. Natarajan for a single to reach his maiden Indian Premier League century (101, 58b; 13×4, 1×6). The young batter took off his helmet, raised the bat and bowed down amid huge cheers from the crowd at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Monday evening.
Gill batted like a dream and guided Gujarat Titans to 188 for nine, before the seasoned pacers – Mohammed Shami and Mohit Sharma – claimed four wickets apiece to earn a 34-run win against Sunrisers Hyderabad to confirm a top-two spot in the playoffs.
Put in, Gill and Sai Sudharsan (47, 36b, 6×4, 1×6), who replaced an injured Vijay Shankar, forged a 147-run stand for the second wicket – the highest partnership for any wicket for the Titans – before Bhuvneshwar Kumar pulled things back with a fifer (five for 30).
Cruising at 147 for 1 in 14 overs, the Titans looked set for yet another 200-plus total, but Marco Jansen broke the strong partnership by dismissing Sudharsan and in the following three overs, Hardik Pandya, David Miller and Rahul Tewatia fell.
Sunrisers picked up eight wickets in the last six overs, conceding just 41 runs. In the final over, bowled by Bhuvneshwar, Titans added just two runs and lost four wickets.
Though Bhuvneshwar removed Wriddhiman Saha in the third delivery of the innings, Gill and Sudharsan took control, making the most of SRH’s sloppy show on the field.
Back in the final XI after a month, Sudharsan looked jittery initially. It took Titans 64 deliveries to bring up the first six of the innings, but making most of three missed run outs and a reprieve, the Tamil Nadu batter backed Gill as the latter put the spectators in awe with his strokeplay.
Chasing a tall total, Anmolpreet Singh was dropped by Tewatia in the second ball off Shami, but Rashid caught him at deep third man two deliveries later. Yash Dayal, playing a game after a month, struck in his first over, dismissing Abhishek Sharma. Shami tightened the screws further by removing Rahul Tripathi and Markram in the next two overs.
Reeling at 45 for 4 in the Powerplay, Mohit dented SRH’s hopes further with three quick wickets. Heinrich Klaasen fought a lone battle with a 44-ball-64, but that was not enough.
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