Shubman Gill’s century has put Gujarat Titans into the IPL final after they chased down a Rajasthan total powered by another blitz from teen wunderkind Vaibhav Sooryavanshi
Josh Hazlewood’s defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru will face Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League final after Shubman Gill’s side chased down Rajasthan Royals in the Qualifier 2 playoff.
A 167-run opening partnership between Indian captain Gill and Sai Sudharsan steered Gujarat to the seven-wicket win with eight balls to spare.
Gujarat pulled off their highest successful chase at 3-219, in reply to Rajasthan’s 6-214.
Royals’ innings was based on another superlative innings from 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who smashed 96 off 47 balls.
He was trumped by Gill, who hit 104 off 53 balls, including 15 boundaries.
The final on Sunday in Ahmedabad, Gujarat’s home ground, will be a rematch of the first playoff on Tuesday when Bengaluru beat Gujarat by 92 runs in Dharamsala.
Besides Hazlewood RCB have Australia’s Tim David while Titans have two Aussies on their coaching staff, Matthew Hayden (batting) and Matthew Wade (wicketkeeping), although the Tasmanian has departed the IPL and is with Australia’s ODI side in Pakistan for their tour there that begins tonight.
Opting to bat, Rajasthan made a shaky start against Gujarat’s pace being 2-9 after 11 balls. That forced Sooryavanshi to bat slower than usual yet he still powered to 50 off 31 balls and lifted Rajasthan to 2-70 in the Powerplay.
He put on 127 off 65 balls with Ravindra Jadeja, who anchored with 45 not out off 35 balls, including a spell when he retired hurt.
Sooryavanshi, who was finally out caught off Kagiso Rabada in the 18th over, finished the season with 776 runs in 16 innings, averaging 48.5, and all at a strike rate of 237.31.