IPL 2023, RCB vs GT: Gill's ton overpowers Kohli's century; MI qualify, title remain elusive for RCB
IPL 2023, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) vs Gujarat Titans (GT): Virat Kohli’s 101 off 61, Shubman Gill’s 104 and Rashid Khan-Noor Ahmed's combined 3-63 are top performances. Gujarat Titans beat RCB by 6 wickets. Mumbai Indians qualify for playoffs.
Brief Scores: RCB 197-5 (Kohli 101*, Bracewell 26; Noor 2-39) beat GT 198-4 (Gill 104*, Shankar 53; Siraj 2-32) by 6 wickets.
Player Of The Match: Shubman Gill (104 runs off 52)
As the hands were folded in despair waiting for the rain gods to stop the showering in Bengaluru as the final clash of the league stage was underway between Gujarat Titans and Royal Challengers Bangalore after a delayed start. A win in the previous game between Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad meant a do-or-die game for RCB to make it into the playoffs. Hardik Pandya won the toss and elected to bowl first against RCB. RCB dropped Karn Sharma from Subs and Himanshu Sharma replaced him while GT went ahead with the same team.
Gujrat's Splendid Win Takes Away The Playoff Hopes From Bangalore
In this crucial encounter, RCB had a brilliant opening partnership as both Faf Du Plessis and Virat Kohli began in sixth gear directly as they ended the powerplay with 62-0 on the board. Scoring at over 10 runs per over, RCB looked like they would end up with anything above 200, however the next nine overs, GT pulled back things. Especially Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad brought GT back into the game as RCB lost five wickets for just 74 runs in the next nine overs. Kohli scored consecutive century and his 101* was the lone warrior for RCB scoring >50% of the team’s total runs with cameos from Bracewell and Rawat. This was also Kohli’s third consecutive fifty+ innings against GT (101*, 73, 58) as RCB reached 197-5 at the end of 20 overs.
GT didn’t have the best of starts with Saha back in the hut with just 25 runs on the board for GT. Then came the partnership of the league stages. 123 runs for the 2nd wicket between Shubman Gill and the impact player, Vijay Shankar change the momentum of the game. The balance of the game took a major u-turn and even though RCB could dismiss Shankar and Miller, Gill was standing tall at the other end and ensured his calmness and counter-attacking gameplay helped GT cross the line as they chased 198 runs with five balls to spare. GT had chased nothing above 196 and Gill did it in style for them with a six.
Read More: IPL 2023, GT vs SRH: Gill's maiden ton, Shami's 4-fer secure top-two finish for Gujarat
Talking Points: The Team Choice Makes The Difference
RCB gambled with a debutant Himanshu Sharma in a knock-out game and it backfired as the youngster went wicketless in his three overs giving 28. As always, Gujarat had a new match winner for them this time as well but a similar face in the name of Shubhman Gill who was the backbone of this run-chase for GT. The bowling partnership of Rashid-Noor was the biggest positive for Gujarat leading into the playoffs.
Top three performances from RCB vs GT
