Indian Premier League, Qualifier 2, Ahmedabad:
Gujarat Titans 233-3 (20 overs): Gill 129 (60), Sudharsan 43 (31), Pandya 28* (13)
Mumbai Indians 171 (18.2 overs): Yadav 61 (38), Verma 43 (14); Mohit 5-10, Rashid 2-33
Gujarat Titans won by 62 runs.
Shibman Gill scored a brilliant 60-ball 129 as holders Gujarat Titans beat Mumbai Indians to reach the Indian Premier League final.
After being dismissed for 30, the Gujarat opener tore apart the Mumbai attack with seven fours and 10 sixes.
The century was his third in four innings as the Titans posted 233-3, before Mumbai collapsed to 171, Mohit Sharma taking 5-10.
Gujarat will now take on Chennai Super Kings in the final in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
Gill masterclass makes Mumbai pay
After the start of Qualifier 2 was delayed by half an hour due to rain, Gujarat were asked to bat first.
While there were signs of a top time to follow, Gayle should have gone for the final over of the powerplay.
England paceman Chris Jordan forced a mistake but Tim David could not latch onto it despite getting both hands on the ball after diving ahead of mid-on.
David finally took a catch to dismiss Gill – some 99 runs later.
The 23-year-old was fearless and reached 50 off 32 balls but that was just the beginning.
Gayle needed just 17 balls to go from 50 to 100 in a brilliant display of batting that was explosive.
Akash Madhwal was dismissed for three sixes in one over and Piyush Chawla hit two more sixes in the next. After reaching three figures, Gayle also took down Cameron Greene.
The Indian batsman is the third player to score three or more centuries in an IPL season after Virat Kohli and Jos Buttler who scored four centuries in 2016 and 2022 respectively.
Even when Gill got out in the 17th over, there was no respite for Mumbai as Titans skipper Hardik Pandya came in and continued the attack.
Mumbai chase runs out of steam
Mumbai lost openers Rohit Sharma and Nihal Vadhira within three overs of their reply, while Green had to retire Hurt between those two dismissals after Green was elbowed by Pandya’s bumper.
The five-time winners had already ruled out Ishan Kishan with a concussion after an accidental collision with team-mate Jordan, but managed to stay in contention thanks to some brilliant hitting from Tilak Verma.
The left-hander hit five fours and three sixes before ending his innings at the hands of Rashid Khan for 43 off 14 balls.
Green managed to bounce back and put on 52 runs with Surya Kumar Yadav, whose presence alone meant Gujarat’s victory was not assured.
But Ireland left-armer Josh Little bowled Green and Yadav ended Mumbai’s charge shortly after Mohit’s 33-ball half-century.
Mohit ran through the lower order to claim career-best T20 figures and send Gujarat back to the final, in their second IPL campaign.
