Opener Shubman Gill struck a century after Mohammed Shami and Mohit Sharma struck a century as defending champions Gujarat Titans beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 34 runs to become the first team to qualify for the play-offs in the Indian Premier League here on Monday. With nine wins from 13 matches, Titans have 18 points and are all set to finish in the top two after the league stage. With this defeat, the Sunrisers team became the second team after Delhi Capitals to be out of the play-off race.
The Titans posted 188 for nine on the back of Gill’s 58-ball 101, studded with 13 fours and a six, besides his 147-run partnership for the second wicket with Sai Sudarshan (47). Apart from these two, however, none of the Titans batsmen could reach double digits. In response, the Sunrisers team could only manage 154 for nine despite the half-century of Heinrich Klaasen (64) in front of the sharp bowling of Shami (4 for 21) and Mohit (4 for 28). Klaasen also added 68 runs for the eighth wicket with Bhuvneshwar Kumar (27).
Chasing the target, Sunrisers had a very bad start and the team lost four wickets for 29 runs in the fifth over. In the very first over, Shami got Anmolpreet Singh (05) caught by Rashid Khan at deep third man. Abhishek Sharma (05) hit a four off Yash Dayal but was caught by wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha in the same over. Shami sent Rahul Tripathi (01) and captain Aiden Markram (10) to the pavilion in his next two overs. Tripathi caught Rahul Tewatia in the slips while Markram Dasun was caught by Shanaka.
The Sunrisers team could only manage 45 runs for four wickets in the powerplay. Sanveer Singh (07) opened the account with a six off Shami but was caught by Sudarshan at deep third man off Mohit’s bowling. Abdul Samad (04) also gave a catch to substitute player Shivam Mavi in the same over of Mohit, which made the team’s score 49 for six wickets. Marco Jansen (03) was also caught by Hardik Pandya in Mohit’s next over. Klaasen, however, held one end. He hit sixes on Rashid and Noor Ahmed. Noor, however, got lucky on the very first ball when David Miller dropped his catch at the boundary and the ball went for six runs.
Klaasen also hit Noor for a six in the next over, while Bhuvneshwar hit Rashid for four to complete his team’s hundred in the 14th over. Klaasen completed his half-century in 35 balls with a single off Rashid. Sunrisers needed 78 runs to win in the last five overs. Klaasen hit Noor for a four but in the next over Shami was caught by Miller at long-off, which shattered Sunrisers’ true hopes. Klaasen faced 44 balls and hit four fours and three sixes.
Earlier, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (5/30) and T Natarajan (1/34) brought the Sunrisers back in the last over as the Titans could only add 57 runs in the last eight overs. Markram won the toss and decided to bowl first, after which Bhuvneshwar got Saha (00) caught in the slip by Abhishek on the third ball of the match. Sudarshan hit two fours in the next over of Bhuvneshwar. Gill looked in good rhythm from the start. He hit four consecutive fours on fast bowler Fazalhaq Farooqui. Titans scored 65 runs for one wicket in the powerplay.
Gill welcomed Markram with two consecutive fours while in the next over Mayank Markandey hit two consecutive fours to complete his half-century in just 22 balls. Sudarshan completed the team’s century in the 10th over with a four off Markandeya. Sudarshan hit Yansen’s no ball for a six and the next ball for a four, while Gill hit a six and a four in Abhishek’s over. Jansen, however, ended the century partnership in his next over by getting Sudarshan caught at short third man by T Natarajan.
He faced 36 balls and hit six fours and a six. Captain Hardik Pandya (08) took the team’s score past 150 runs in the 15th over with a four off Yansen but was caught by Tripathi off Bhuvneshwar in the next over. David Miller also played Natarajan’s ball in the hands of Markram at long off after scoring seven runs in five balls. Tewatia also fell victim to a brilliant catch by Yansen off Farooqi after scoring just three runs. Gill completed his maiden IPL century in 56 balls with a single off Natarajan. Bhuvneshwar got Gill caught by Abdul Samad on the first ball of the last over, while on the next ball, Rashid Khan (00) was also caught by wicketkeeper Klaasen. Noor Ahmed (00) was run out on the next ball while Shami (00) caught Jansen a ball later. Only two runs were scored in this over.
