IPL 2023, Qualifier 2, GT vs MI blog: Shubman Gill’s ton, Mohit Sharma’s five-for powers GT to final

That will be all for this blog. Join us on Sunday for the final.

Mohit Sharma has made an impressive comeback to the IPL:

“Last year I played domestic cricket after the back surgery, but lots of people didn’t know that I still played,” he said during a mid-innings interview earlier in the tournament.

“There was excitement but also some nervousness about getting back after such a long time – I last played three years ago. But in between I kept playing in the domestic circuit and worked hard.”

Sharma was a net bowler with Titans last season.

“When Ashu bhai (head coach Ashish Nehra) called me up asking me if I want to be in the team, he told me that if someone gets injured I might get a chance. Obviously, if you’re playing cricket somewhere you always want to upgrade. For that you need competitive practice. I felt what am I going to do at home? Might as well do the competitive practice, spend time in cricket, and I did that and that was good for me,” he said.

MI 171 all out after 18.2 overs: GT win by 62 runs.

WICKET! 18.2: Kumar Kartikeya Singh 6(7) ct David Miller b Mohit Sharma A five-for wasn’t taken in the playoffs before this year but we now have two in two. A 5/10 for Mohit Sharma! MI 171 all out

MI 170/9 after 18 overs: Mohit will now get a chance for a five-for as Little bowls out a wicketless over.

WICKET! 16.3: Piyush Chawla 0(2) ct David Miller b Mohit Sharma Superb running catch by Miller and Chawla skies one for Mohit’s 4th wicket. MI 162/9

WICKET! 16.1: Chris Jordan 2(5) ct Sai Sudharsan b Mohit Sharma What a season Mohit Sharma has had. Back-end, he has almost always been great. End of a forgettable day for Jordan. MI 161/8

WICKET! 15.3: Tim David 2(3) lbw Rashid Khan Yeah, that wasn’t a battle that David was likely to win. Plumb in front, uses up a review in hope. MI 158/7

WICKET! 14.5: Vishnu Vinod 5(7) ct Hardik Pandya b Mohit Sharma How much did MI miss a big start from Ishan today? A struggling innings from Vinod comes to an end. MI 156/6

WICKET! 14.3: Suryakumar Yadav 61(38) b Mohit Sharma For the second time in not so long, SKY is out playing the shot he has made his own. Tries the sweep behind the wickets, but is bowled by Mohit. SKY looks upward and stays put for a good few seconds before walking back. MI 155/5

MI 149/4 after 14 overs: Shami put down the most bizarre catch in that over. Got well underneath the ball, while running back admittedly, but let it go through the gap between hands and chest. Vishnu Vinod gets a reprieve and maybe that’s not the worst thing for GT.

HALF CENTURY: What a shot. Straight behind the wickets for six. A 33-ball 54 at the moment. How much more from his willow?

MI need 100 off 7 overs.

MI 134/4 after 13 overs: Oh, for an over that started with a four, that is a superb recovery by Noor. Just six off it.

MI 128/4 after 12 overs: How important is that over? Just 5 off it.

WICKET! 11.2: Cameron Green 30(20) b Josh Little What a huge wicket by Little! He strikes in his first over on return to the lineup. Not as short as Green thought that it would be, skids through and bowled. MI 124/4

MI 124/3 after 11 overs: The required rate and current rate are staying close to each other. Another big over, as Green hits Noor for another six. Don’t count MI out, till these two are around.

MI 110/3 after 10 overs: Some might have thought MI would play out Rashid safely but with Surya around, there is not much scope for that. Two superb fours for him, one streaky four for Green. MI staying in this.

MI 95/3 after 9 overs: Superb from Green to take on Noor over midwicket. A par over for MI.

MI 84/3 after 8 overs: Surya starts that Rashid four with a four over cover but nothing much else in that over.

MI 77/2 after 7 overs: Just 5 runs in Noor’s over.

Green has returned to bat. The two MI centurions for the season in the middle. This has to be the partnership that scores the bulk of the remaining runs.

WICKET! 5.6: Tilak Varma 43(14) b Rashid Khan A powerplay that could have easily been MI’s will now be firmly GT’s just because of that last ball. Tilak looked imperious but the king of T20 cricket strikes. Timber! MI 72/3

MI 65/2 after 5 overs: 4-4-4-4-2-6! WHAT AN OVER! Tilak Varma has just destroyed the tournament’s best powerplay over. 24 runs off Shami’s over. MI are in this, folks!

MI 41/2 after 4 overs: Another big six for Tilak, over the leg side by off Hardik.

Another sub: Broadcasters say that Ishan is unlikely to bat. The accidental elbow on the face by Jordan has proven to be costly. Vishnu Vinod set to be a concussion sub.

MI 29/2 after 3 overs: Uff, what a shot by Tilak. Picked up over the square leg fence off Shami.

WICKET! 2.2: Rohit Sharma 8(7) ct Josh Little b Mohammad Shami Rohit’s poor run in IPL playoffs continues. And all signs point to tonight being the end likely for MI’s season. MI 21/2

MI 21/1 after 2 overs: SKY walks in and hits a first-ball four. Will MI have Ishan and Green available later? They have already made their sub too.

This is a fairly long break. Green is walking off. Very little going for MI tonight.

Ouch. Break in play. A vicious short ball from Hardik, hits Green on the elbow.

WICKET! 0.5: Nehal Wadera 4(3) ct Wriddhiman Saha b Mohammad Shami Impact Player Wadhera falls early. Swipes across the line, caught behind. MI 5/1

Looks like Nehal opening with Rohit. Ishan not walking out.

Some mid-innings reading for badminton fans:

Reactions as Shubman Gill scores his third century of the season – ‘Gaping in disbelief’

GT 233/3 after 20 overs: A streaky four followed by a thumping six... Hardik Pandya finishes it off in style. 19 runs off the last Jordan over. HUGE SCORE ON THE BOARD!

Jordan to Hardik and Rashid.

GT 214/3 after 19 overs: How things change. 52 runs today conceded by Madhwal. Had conceded 5 last match. A good last over though, just 9 off it. Sudharsan was retired out last ball.

GT 205/2 after 18 overs: Sai Sudharsan ends a mini drought for a four. Last ball, scooped over short-fine off Dorff’s bowling.

A picture that says a lot:

WICKET! 16.5: Shubman Gill 129(60) ct Tim David b Akash Madhwal WOW, is the word that comes to mind first. And Gill is actually disappointed at the end of it all. He knew there was more for the taking. Out caught at midwicket. One of the all-time great IPL knocks. GT 192/2

Vishnu Vinod is a sub keeper for MI now. Wonder what’s up with Ishan.

GT 183/1 after 16 overs: Sai Sudharsan reminding everyone there are two batters in the middle. Two fours in that Jordan over. That over started with a gorgeous Gill shot past point. Like Kohli vs Australia in Mohali.

Truly the heir of Indian batting: Ian Bishop tweeted after Gill’s RCB ton. Rings true over and over.

GT 166/1 after 15 overs: A 6-4-6 after the century! What is this quality. The second innings a shot of unreal improvisation. Down the track, short ball, but he tennis-hits it wide of long on.

CENTURY FOR SHUBMAN GILL: An innings of the highest quality. Third ton of the season.

GT 147/1 after 14 overs: A calm over in the middle of the Shubman storm. Gill moves on to 99 in that Jordan over.

GT 139/1 after 14 overs: Two huge sixes. Taking on the pacers square of the wicket, and spinners down the ground. The second six was a monster 106m. Chawla’s over goes for 20.

GT 119/1 after 12 overs: Do yourself a favour and watch over from Madhwal and Gill as many times as you can. UNREAL BATTING. Three sixes of real high quality.

GT 98/1 after 11 overs: 7 runs in that Green over, including a superb four by Sai through cover.

GT 91/1 after 10 overs: Just absolutely crazy how Gill makes a sweep over long leg look so elegant. It’s the slog sweep, it’s not supposed to look that good! What a hit for six.

Half century for Gill: The great form continues and boy does he love this stadium. A 32-ball half cnetury.

GT 80/1 after 9 overs: Just gorgeous from Gill! Lovely six down the ground off Chawla, the class in it. A four for Sudharsan and it is a huge over, 16 runs.

GT 64/1 after 8 overs: Just five runs off Karthikeya’s over and nearly the wicket of Gill. A run-out chance for Ishan but Gill dives back

WICKET! 6.2: Wriddhiman Saha 18(16) st Ishan Kishan b Piyush Chawla When MI need a breakthrough, who they gonna call? Chawla strikes in his first over. Lovely drift down the leg side, beats Saha all ends up. GT 54/1

GT 50/0 after 6 overs: A good finish to the powerplay by GT. A trademark Gill jab over square leg for a six, followed by a superb shot through offside for four. David nearly pulls off a stunning catch after that at mid-on.

GT 38/0 after 5 overs: A four each for Gill and Saha in that Dorff over as GT get a move on.

GT 27/0 after 4 overs: And more runs conceded in the first over by Madhwal today, than in the entire Eliminator. Of course, 5/5 is perhaps once in a lifetime spell. Saha gets hit by a bouncer but responds with a four.

Akash time. What next after 5/5?

GT 20/0 after 3 overs: A four for Saha in that over but he is not quite timing it right. The ball seems to be stopping a bit.

GT 13/0 after 2 overs: Green into the attack and the first boundary of the day comes off the bat of Gill. He now owns the Orange Cap (and likely to keep it for the season).

GT 3/0 after 1 over: Hint of an early movement, cautious start from Saha. Gill with a good-looking pull but MI have protection in the deep.

We are underway. Dorff to start off for MI. Another Gill special for GT?

Team news

GT XI: XI: Shubman Gill, Wridhhiman Saha (wk), Sai Sudharsan, Vijay Shankar, Hardik Pandya (c), David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmed, Md Shami, Mohit Sharma.

MI XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan (wk), Cam Green, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Tim David, Chris Jordan, Kumar Kartikeya Singh, Akash Madhwal, Piyush Chawla, Jason Behrendorff.

Toss news

Hardik Pandya tosses the coin, Rohit Sharma calls it right. MI have opted to chase.

7.34 pm: That is some photo.

7.17 pm: The bowlers are marking their runups and all that. A big hug between Hardik and Pollard. Serious conversations between Hardik and Rohit. Plenty of familiarity.

7.13 pm: From a net bowler for Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore to the star of MI’s win over Lucknow Super Giants, Akash Madhwal is the newest star of IPL 2023. The Uttarakhand bowler notched figures of 5/5 as MI beat LSG by 81 runs to win the Eliminator on Wednesday at the MA Chidamabaram Stadium in Chennai.

IPL 2023, Eliminator: Akash Madhwal - ‘I’ve learnt how to bowl yorkers from tennis-ball cricket’.

7.01 pm: Looks like the rain has stopped and the players are out in the middle.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the Indian Premier League. The third playoff match of IPL 2023 features Hardik Pandya’s Gujarat Titans and Rohit Sharma’s Mumbai Indians.

From one Pandya, Rohit Sharma and Co travel to Ahmedabad to face another Pandya. Defending champions Hardik and Co await the most successful side in the league in the Qualifier 2.

CSK await the winners of this clash tonight.

(And, yes this means that we won’t have a new champion in 2023).

Early news is that it is pouring in Ahmedabad.