BENGALURU: Virat Kohli’s second consecutive ton overshadowed Shubman Gill’s dazzling knock as Gujarat Titans beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by six wickets to lift their Indian Premier League (IPL) playoff hopes here on Sunday. But turned the water. With this defeat of RCB, Mumbai Indians became the fourth team to make it to the playoffs. He had earlier taken his points tally to 16 after defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets.
RCB ended their campaign in the sixth position with 14 points. Gujarat Titans’ topping the league stage was already decided. He ended his league-stage campaign with 20 points. They will take on Chennai Super Kings in the first qualifier on Tuesday while Mumbai Indians will face Lucknow Supergiants in the Eliminator on Wednesday. RCB’s innings revolved around Kohli.
The star batsman, who scored a century against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the last match, scored an unbeaten 101 off 61 balls which included 13 fours and a six. With this, RCB scored 197 runs for five wickets. Gill continued his fine form, scoring an unbeaten 104 off 52 balls which included five fours and eight sixes. He shared a 123-run partnership for the second wicket with Vijay Shankar (53 off 35 balls, seven fours, two sixes). With this, Gujarat won by scoring 198 runs for four wickets in 19.1 overs. With his century, Kohli also set the record for scoring most hundreds in IPL, surpassing Chris Gayle.
He has become the third batsman to score a century in consecutive matches in this T20 league. Gill, however, rebuffed his efforts. Gujarat Titans scored 51 runs in the first six overs and meanwhile lost the wicket of Wriddhiman Saha (12). Meanwhile, Vijay Shankar also hit Wayne Parnell for the first six of the innings.
With the run rate slowing down after the power play, Gill silenced the RCB fans by hitting Vijay Kumar and Himanshu Sharma for sixes. Gill welcomes Michael Bracewell with two sixes. On the other hand, Vijay Shankar hit Vijay Kumar for two consecutive fours and then a six and completed his half-century in 34 balls, but on the next ball, he caught Kohli at deep mid-wicket. Kohli also took the catch of Dasun Shanaka (0) off Harshal Patel in the next over.
When the difference between runs and balls was increasing, Gill hit two sixes on Mohammad Siraj (2 for 32). Siraj, however, did not let David Miller (six) last long. Gill then hit Harshal Patel for a six and also completed his century by hitting the winning six off Parnell. Electing to bat after losing the toss in a game that was delayed by almost an hour due to rain, Kohli and Faf Duplesey got off to a good start as Kohli and Faf Duplesey put on 67 runs for the first wicket.
Du Plessis hit Mohammed Shami for four fours and Kohli hit Yash Dayal for three consecutive fours to enthuse the crowd present at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. RCB scored 62 runs without loss in the power play. Duplesey, however, could not play a big innings and returned to the pavilion after scoring 28 runs off 19 balls, caught by Noor Ahmed (2 for 39). Glenn Maxwell (11) hit Ahmed for a six and a four in this over but Rashid Khan (1 for 24) stunned the spectators in the next over by scattering his wickets.
Made the score 85 for three wickets. Kohli stood firm at the other end despite RCB losing three wickets within 18 runs. Michael Bracewell (26 off 16 balls) meanwhile put on a fine display of his hitting skills and hit some spectacular fours. Shami, however, in his second spell forced Bracewell to be caught back on a full toss.
Dinesh Karthik failed again and could not even open the account. Yash Dayal caught him behind the wicket. Kohli hit Yash Dayal for his first six in the 18th over of the innings and completed his century in 60 balls. He shared an unbroken 64-run partnership for the sixth wicket with Anuj Rawat (23 not out). Before Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan and Jos Buttler had scored centuries in consecutive matches in IPL.
