IPL 2023: Gujarat Titans breaks RCB hearts as Mumbai reaches playoffs

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A Shubman Gill-inspired Gujarat Titans broke Virat Kohli and Royal Challengers Bangalore hearts with a brilliant six-wicket win that ended the RCB hopes of reaching the playoffs.

Mumbai Indians, which had earlier beaten the Sunrisers Hyderabad, entered the playoffs after Kohli's seventh IPL hundred (101 not out off 61 balls) and his second successive ton in this edition failed to set up a win for the RCB in the make-or-break game in Bangalore.

Chasing 198, defending champion Gujarat Titans reached home in the final over on the back of a sublime 54-ball unbeaten 104 from Gill.

The dazzling opener also found good support from Vijay Shankar (53 off 35 balls) in the thrilling run chase.

Gujarat finished the league phase on top with 20 points as it will take on second-placed Chennai Super Kings in Qualifier 1 on Tuesday.

The third-placed Lucknow Super Giants will face Mumbai Indians in Qualifier 2 on Wednesday.

The RCB, on the other hand, will rue the lack of balance in the team as its wait for its first IPL trophy continues.

Earlier, Kohli was the lone ranger as his second successive century powered Royal Challengers Bangalore to a challenging 197 for five.

With the rain gods threatening to spoil the day, the match that started half an hour late saw Kohli (101 not out off 61 balls) bring back his 2016 avatar. He held all the aces during his knock that had 13 fours and a six.

His innings was priceless in the context that none of the other RCB batters could even reach 30 and just like the good old days, ‘King Kohli’ set the narrative by playing with line, length and minds of the bowlers.

This is his seventh IPL hundred and he has now surpassed Chris Gayle as the batter with highest number of tournament tons.

Kohli and skipper Faf Du Plessis (28) got off to a rollicking start, with a flurry of boundaries against Mohammed Shami (1/39 in 4 overs) and the already distraught Yash Dayal in the powerplay.

They were dispatched for as many as nine boundaries which prompted Hardik Pandya to quickly press his main weapon, Rashid Khan (1/24 in 4 overs), into action to stem the flow of runs.

After conceding 62 runs in six powerplay overs, Rashid and his ‘left-arm mirror image’ Noor Ahmed (2/39 in 4 overs) put the brakes on the scoring.

Noor dismissed Du Plessis while he tried to hit him inside in a freakish manner. The edge hit Wriddhiman Saha’s pads and lobbed up for Rahul Tewatia to complete an easy catch.

Glenn Maxwell started off well but Rashid bowled one that was fast and full and just broke back enough to breach the defence of the batter as RCB suddenly found itself in a rut.

It became worse when Noor dragged Mahipal Lomror with one that turned the other way and Saha completed a leg-side stumping with the finesse that is associated with him for years now.

Michael Bracewell (26), however, took some pressure off Kohli at the other end with Mohit Sharma’s slower balls not working well on this occasion.

In his first three overs, he was hit for seven fours and it was Shami who got Bracewell before he could inflict more damage and Dayal had something finally going for him when Dinesh Karthik’s woeful season got worse.

But Kohli continued to fight and brought up his century.

In the end though, it was not enough as the Titans chased the total down and knocked RCB out of the tournament.

Royal Challengers Bangalore 197/5 (Virat Kohli 101 not out, Faf Du Plessis 28; Noor Ahmad 2-39)

Gujarat Titans 198/4 in 19.1 overs (Shubman Gill 104 not out, Vijay Shankar 53; Mohammed Siraj 2/32)