Shubman Gill 101 headlines mismatch as Gujarat Titans seal top-two finish

We all knew that Gujarat Titans were, unofficially, into the playoffs. It was just that the nature of where exactly they would end up on the IPL 2023 points table was unclear, given that they were stuck on 16 points going into their second last match versus ninth-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad in Ahmedabad on Monday. All Gujarat needed to do was win one of those to get to 18 points, which is the number only Mumbai Indians, at third place with 14, can hope to make it. None of the other seven teams in contention for the playoffs could make it to 18, so it was a done deal that Hardik Pandya’s team was going forward (because even if they did lose to SRH and then Royal Challengers Bangalore, having 16 points and a healthy net run rate would be enough to keep them in the top four.

What transpired in Ahmedabad was one-way traffic, reasserting Gujarat’s dominance as the team to beat. On paper, this was a mismatch: defending champions and table-toppers against the laggard Hyderabad franchise, whose misfiring Indian contingent and hit-or-miss foreign presence had left them in a precarious position, only ahead of Delhi Capitals on the points table. A loss to Gujarat has canceled SRH out of the playoffs race, even with two matches to play.

Putting the home team in the driver’s seat was Shubman Gill, who creamed 13 fours a six during his first IPL century, 101 off 56 deliveries, out of a total of 188/9. Hyderabad were very sloppy in the field, dropping three catches, but did very well to take four wickets between overs 15-18 and then four in the final over of Gujarat’s innings, of which three went to Bhuvneshwar Kumar to give him lovely figures of 5/30.

That was the only real positive for SRH on the night, because two wickets into their chase and they had lost their openers. Mohammed Shami looked on in agony as Rahul Tewatia put down Anmolpreet Singh at slip off the second ball of Hyderabad’s chase, but was soon beaming. Three deliveries later, Anmolpreet uppercut down to third man where Rashid Khan held onto the catch, and in Shami’s second over Tewatia made up for his error by holding a regulation thick edge from Rahul Tewatia.

In between these strikes, the left-arm pacer Yash Dayal marked his first over since Rinku Singh swatted him, and his ego, for five successive sixes back on April 9, with the wicket of Abhishek Sharma who nicked off to the wicketkeeper. At 12/3 in 13 deliveries, this match was over as a contest.

Why have SRH been so poor? For one, their core Indian contingent has been very average. Mayank Agarwal, until last year an India cricketer and a leadership figure in the IPL, has struggled for runs. Rahul Tripathi, who holds a senior role in this team as their constant one-down batsman, has one fifty in 11 innings. Abhishek entered the IPL after a good domestic season but currently averages 23.88 with the bat and 48 with the ball, while going at 10.66 runs an over.

Much was expected of T Natarajan but the left-arm quick has looked like an imposter, conceding runs at 9.17 per over while managing nine wickets in 11 matches. Washington Sundar went wicketless for six straight matches before he claimed three in one over, but then injured himself and was ruled out of the tournament. And Umran Malik, the biggest positive out of Hyderabad’s 2022 season, was benched after seven games yielded five wickets.

The team’s woes have been compounded by their captain Aiden Markram’s poor performances and Harry Brook’s no-show. Brook, the rising superstar of English cricket, was snapped up for Rs 13.5 crore this year and his first taste of the IPL has been bitter. Either side of hitting the season’s first century, Brook failed to get to 20 in eight innings and was also relegated to the bench. Markram, appointed leader for the season, has a solitary half-century in 11 innings and an average of 23.

When your leading run-getter of the tournament has 326 and your highest wicket-taker has just 14 victims, clearly things have not gone to plan. On paper, SRH had a good squad and plenty of options. But some poor Impact Player choices and too many non-performers have left them in a mess all season.

No such worries for Gujarat, who marched into the playoffs with a 34-run win over SRH at home. Gill’s century extended his run tally to 576 at an average of 48 and strike-rate of 146.19, and six of his team-mates have 200-plus runs. Rashid and Shami share the Purple Cap for taking 23 wickets each, Mohit Sharma has been a revelation with 17 at 13.52 apiece and Noor Ahmad (11 with an economy of 7.74) has been a solid supporting act.

Gujarat are confirmed for the playoffs and SRH have been eliminated. Seven teams are chasing three remaining spots.