Something special was necessary in a match of this magnitude and two of our stars stepped up with career-best performances. For the second season running, Gujarat Titans have reached the TATA IPL final, becoming only the third team to do so. Our date with destiny is set for Sunday, with Chennai Super Kings standing between us and the title. 

Once again, a Shubman Gill-spectacle dazzled the watching-world, registering the best individual score by a GT batter. To add to it, a spectacular spell from Mohit Sharma, which turned out to be the best spell by a GT bowler in the tournament, raised the roof in Ahmedabad and capped off a fantastic day for the side. 

A Shubman show that left us bewitched!

Earlier in the evening, some passing showers delayed the proceedings at the Narendra Modi Stadium. Mumbai Indians won the toss and chose to bowl first and they got off to a decent start. The outfield had slowed down due to the showers and scoring wasn’t looking easy, hence, Shubman Gill started taking the aerial route. 

His onslaught began with a six and four in the final powerplay over. He kept escalating his pace with every passing over and went berserk against the spinners. In the company of Sai Sudharsan, they smashed 16 runs off Piyush Chawla. 

After completing his fifty in the 10th, Gill entered the 90s at the end of the 13th over. He completed the next fifty runs in only 17 deliveries and took our scoring rate past 11. He reached three figures for the third time in four matches, also taking him past the 800-mark in TATA IPL 2023, the youngest to have achieved it. 

The fireworks were far from done off his bat, as he went on to pick up 16 runs off Cameron Green and got another boundary off Chris Jordan in the next over. However, his carnage came to an end in the 17th over, with the 23-year-old scoring 129 off 60 deliveries. 

Skipper Pandya then took it upon himself to provide a big finish and his cameo was the icing on the cake. He smashed 28 off only 13 deliveries, and we registered our highest-ever TATA IPL total, finishing with 233 for three in 20 overs. 

Mohit finishes off in style!

Titans got off to an ideal start, with Mohammad Shami once again providing our first breakthrough. Nehal Wadhera edged it to Wriddhiman Saha off a peach, confirming his 28th scalp of the tournament. 

Mumbai Indians, however, produced some big hits in the powerplay courtesy of Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav, who added a 51-run partnership in only 22 balls. However, Rashid Khan’s magic denied them any further elation, dismissing Tilak Varma just before he reached a quickfire fifty.

Suryakumar Yadav, however, did not let us go through easily. The star Indian batter was at the forefront of MI’s fightback and he completed a terrific half-century. Cameron Green provided some crucial big hits in his company, as Mumbai remained just around the periphery. 

However, once Hardik Pandya introduced Mohit Sharma into the attack, the match swung totally in the Titans’ favour. He began with the big wicket of Suryakumar, taking his stump for a ride. He then dismissed Vishnu Vinod a couple of balls later and we took total control.  

Mohit Sharma returned to pick two more wickets in his second over, reducing MI from 155 for four to 162 for nine in a span of two overs. He finished the match in style, picking up GT’s first five-fer in TATA IPL, returning with figures of five for 10 in 2.2 overs. 

With a 62-run victory, we confirmed another meeting with Chennai Super Kings this season. The very fixture that kick-started the tournament, will also be the one to bring down the curtains. This Sunday, a blockbuster awaits! 

Brief Scores

Gujarat Titans 233/3 in 20 overs (Shubman Gill 129, Sai Sudharsan 43) beat Mumbai Indians 171 all out in 18.2 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 61, Mohit Sharma 5/10)

Player of the match: Shubman Gill