GT seem to be all about Shubman Gill now. The youngster has destroyed attack after attack and his assault on the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) bowling o Sunday night sent the Bengaluru outfit packing as they once more failed in effort to claim the elusive IPL trophy.
Chennai: Gujarat Titans (GT) are playing the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 like the champion side they are. The momentum could well have been lost once they had qualified for the top slot on the IPL 2023 points table, but they just did not take foot off the gas. The results were there for everyone to see on Sunday night. But when it comes to playing Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Qualifier 1, there are no givens. Not for nothing are CSK multiple times champions – they can put it past any team. Further, the presence of MS Dhoni at the helm of things is always a trump card for CSK. This one will be big.
GT seem to be all about Shubman Gill now. The youngster has destroyed attack after attack and his assault on the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) bowling o Sunday night sent the Bengaluru outfit packing as they once more failed in effort to claim the elusive IPL trophy.
Gill was good against SunRisers Hyderabad too in the previous match, where he notched his first century of the tournament, but his assault on RCB was something else.
Hammering 104 unbeaten runs at an even strike rate of 200 with five boundaries and eight sixes was brutal. This, coming after Kohli’s second straight century also sent notice to all – the next generation is good and ready.
RCB were never in the match when Gill got going and the loss also paved the way for Mumbai Indians to qualify.
The GT bowling is never to be underestimated and on that soup plate of a ground at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, they did very well indeed to keep a rein on the RCB batting, as they have against many rivals.
Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad have been sensational and Mohammad Shami’s little side battle with Rashid for the purple cap seems to bring the best out of both. They will challenge CSK too, come Tuesday.
As for CSK, they couldn’t have asked for a better venue to play Qualifier 1. The MA Chidambaram Stadium has been the 12th player for them in most games and Tuesday won’t be any less.
But that is not their only weapon. They have improved from their mediocre start to IPL 2023 quite phenomenally and their sign-off from the league was something to behold.
Ruturaj Gaikwad, who was threatening to go off the boil, found his form again in the match with Delhi Capitals (DC) while Devon Conway once more showed how vital he is in the CSK scheme of things. On top of these two, Shivam Dube clattered a few out of the park, as did Ravindra Jadeja.
Thereafter Deepak Chahar, Matheesha Pathirana and Maheesh Theekshana led a fine bowling display.
Chennai too seem to have clicked most of the boxes and on top of that, they have the cricketing brain of MS Dhoni. Quite a combination.
GT skipper Hardik Pandya hasn’t done badly either, not just now but since IPL 2022. He too has found the right moves and while it is always better to lead a cohesive side, Pandya has ironed out glitches of a losing cause well too.
Like Gill, Pandya’s captaincy too is the milestone for transition from old to new. One wonders if that will dominate, or Dhoni will still have his last hurrah, once IPL 2023 is done.
