IPL 2023: Shubman Gill single-handedly demolishes Mumbai Indians

Synopsis: The saga of stroke-making wonder Gill rolls on, as Mumbai could only give a mini scare to Titans, before Mohit grabbed five wickets
The season of plenty continued for Shubman Gill, whose 60-ball-129 was the most significant as well as the most splendid of his three hundreds this season. It captured all the traits that have thrust him on the path to greatness—grace, calm, stroke-play, explosiveness and a supreme game-sense—and propelled Gujarat Titans’ total to 233. Try as Mumbai Indians did—Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma conspired a he—this was a bridge too far for them to cross, and Titans wrapped up a 62-run victory to meet Chennai Super Kings in the final.
Stroke-making wonder
Some of the strokes that Gill unpacked during his hundred were so wondrous that even wisened batters like Rohit Sharma turned fanboys. The third ball after he completed his hundred, he unleashed a stroke akin to a double-handed forehand in tennis. Gill backed away from the stumps just as Cameron Green was about to release the ball; the bowler followed him, congesting him for room. But Gill swayed his body to facilitate the bat-flow, kept his shape, rode the bounce and flat-batted it through long-on. As the ball sailed into the rapturous stands, Sharma, himself one of the most destructive pullers around, reproduced the stroke with his arms.

Congratulations to the Gujarat Titans, who march to the #Final of the #TATAIPL for the second-consecutive time 🙌
They complete a formidable 62-run win over Mumbai Indians 👏🏻👏🏻#TATAIPL | #Qualifier2 | #GTvMI | @gujarat_titans pic.twitter.com/rmfWU7LJHy
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 26, 2023
In the dugout, Hardik Pandya stood dazed, mouth agape; Kieron Pollard, a six-hitting colossus, looked on with admiration in his eyes. Moments ago, the entire stadium, including Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan, rose to applaud one of the most dazzling hundreds you would ever see in white-ball cricket, forget IPL. It was many hundreds in one—an unadulterated stroke-making grandee, an ode to classicism in the realm of pyrotechnics, and a reason for purs to watch the IPL. Most of all, it could be an IPL innings people would remember and long to rewatch even after several years.
The most striking aspect was his explosiveness. Athletes, the absolute elites among them, would often talk about explosive pace, the ability to explode, the gift of producing speed from nowhere, the skill to accelerate from 10kph to 100 kph in the blink of an eye. At one stage, Gill was trotting in third gear, before in a sudden rush of velocity, he began to zip in sixth gear. He was 38 off 27 balls once, a steady but not searing pace in this format. He was gauging the nature of the wicket, measuring the depth of the bowlers, laying the foundation and waiting for the right moment to burst forth.
In the next 33, he would rack up 91 runs, leaving no shot in the book unplayed or sparing no bowler of scars. He was like a quiet river abruptly taking a furious direction, devouring everything in its path.

ICYMI!
A SIX that left everyone in 🤯🤯
How would you describe that shot from Shubman Gill?#TATAIPL | #Qualifier2 | #GTvMI | @ShubmanGill pic.twitter.com/BAd8NDVB0e
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 26, 2023
The hero of Mumbai’s eliminator one, Akash Madhwal, might have realised the pithiness of the old adage that sport is a leveller. The other night against Lucknow, he produced the best figures in the play-off, but this night, Gill plundered three sixes in a single over. Madhwal stood broken at the end of the over, consoled Sharma who might have told him he, or any other bowlers, couldn’t have done anything to prevent the downpour of sixes. That was part of an incredulous spell where he struck five sixes in nine balls, the passage that shifted the game’s direction. From eight an over, Titans’ run-rate soared to 11.
Six-hitting has been the most upgraded dimension of Gill’s game. Last edition, he managed only 11; this innings alone, he collected 10. The overall tally of 33 this season is more than his combined haul in the last three editions (32). Three of the 10 were smeared down the ground, flat-batted thumps of spinners. Seven were in the arc between long-on and fine-leg, mostly pulls, flicks and short-arm jabs of seamers. He has climbed another stage in his evolutionary leap. And every six of his was an independent event in itself, that turned even seasoned superstars to fanboys. And as Gill walked back, Sharma shook his hands in genuine appreciation of a dazzling stroke-maker.

! 👏👏
Stand and applaud the Shubman Gill SHOW 🫡🫡#TATAIPL | #Qualifier2 | #GTvMI | @ShubmanGill pic.twitter.com/ADHi0e6Ur1
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 26, 2023
His consency in the ficklest of formats has been mind-bending. It’s a format wherein the best scoring streak can be interrupted a miscue, the most golden of touches thwarted a moment of indiscretion. But the graph of Gill has been vaulting, and leaping into greatness at the speed of light.
Mohit nips a mini scare
With his third ball of the night, Mohit Sharma effectively sealed the game for Titans. A dot ball later, Yadav cudgeled him to the stands beyond the mid-wicket, taking him to 61 off 37 balls. The next ball, Yadav shaped for his staple paddle-scoop behind the stumps, but missed it altogether and saw his shattered stumps. Sharma closed his eyes and offered a silent prayer. Yadav was Mumbai’s miracle-worker and the deeper he batted the brighter Mumbai’s prospects of a victory,

The dismissal that turned things back in Gujarat Titans’ favour 🙌
Mohit Sharma now has three wickets as his side inch closer to victory 👏🏻👏🏻#TATAIPL | #Qualifier2 | #GTvMI pic.twitter.com/vkEHXqZkV3
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 26, 2023
His dismissal followed a meltdown, as though all their hopes had faded, and Sharma lived his dream night with five more wickets. He would end with eye-rubbing figures of 2.2-0-10-5. Sharma was an unlikely hangman, but his assortment of slower-balls, cutters and hard-length balls were enough to sting Mumbai’s shocked lower order.
Chasing down 233 is steep all accounts. Even though Mumbai had hunted down 200-plus totals four times this year, this one was near insurmountable. Mumbai, though they tried as hard as they could.The pursuit began with Tilak Varma throwing caution to the wind, in a manner that reminded you of Virender Sehwag in a carefree mood. Titans made early inroads, the impeccable Shami evicted the openers and Hardik Pandya retired Cameron Green out after hitting him on the forearm.

Magical Mohit!
An outstanding five-wicket haul, giving away just 10-runs in a match-winning occasion 👏🏻👏🏻#TATAIPL | #Qualifier2 | #GTvMI pic.twitter.com/tkEJWkPY9w
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 26, 2023
Then Varma decided to take charge—rather than blinking in the enormity of the situation he displayed his destructiveness with a torrent of four. In one over, he cut to ribbons Shami, smoking four fours and a fierce six. The masterful bowler probed every length he could, changed angles and pace, but Varma emphatically found the ropes. From a hopeless 21 for 2 in three overs, Mumbai blitzed to 72 for 2 in 5.5 overs before Rashid Khan castled Varma for a 14-ball 43.
The momentum did not recede. Green returned and Yadav turned on the beast mood, runs coming at a notch better than the required run-rate. Yadav took on Khan, who has never dismissed in 10 encounters, and blasted for back-to-back fours. Green plastered left-arm wr spinner Noor Ahmad for a pair of sixes, all raw power and long levers. Even though he departed for a 20-ball 30, bowled Josh Little, Mumbai were keeping pace with the required run rate. But Yadav’s exit snuffed out their last lingering hopes.