IPL 2023: Rohit Sharma Impressed by Shubman Gill's Heroics after MI's Exit in Qualifier 2
Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma praised Shubman Gill's knock of 129 after Gujarat Titans beat MI by 62 runs in the IPL 2023 Qualifier 2 on Friday to enter their second consecutive IPL final. Mumbai's brilliant run came to an end as they fell short in Qualifier 2 and missed out on the grand finale. Chasing 234, Mumbai had a bit of an injury problem and were forced to use impact player, Nehal Vadhera in the top order. Neither he nor Rohit Sharma could get going and Cameron Green also suffered a knock around the left elbow which forced him to retire.
Tilak Verma and Suryakumar Yadav put up a strong stand but Varma was dismissed when he was at his best. Yadav left one end and Green came back to bat and gave Yadav some support. Once the ball changed hands, Mumbai started self-destructing with the bat. They went from 155 for 5 to 162 for 9 in the blink of an eye and finally, they ran out of steam completely as Tim David and Vishnu Vinod were unable to fire.
"Yes, look, it was a great total. Shubham batted really well. He got 20-25 extra runs. We were very positive with the batting line-up we had. But we couldn't bat long and the partnership Couldn't. Surya and Greeny played well in the middle, but yes, we failed to go together," Rohit Sharma said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
"We wanted to give a crack, give a positive note. We lost a few wickets in the powerplay. Surya and Greeny [Cameron Green] did well in the middle. We needed someone like Shubman there to bat long from one end.
Early in the game, Rohit Sharma won the toss and sent Gujarat to bat on a wicket that was briefly under cover. Gujarat got off to a steady start with the bat but lost Wriddhiman Saha after the powerplay. It was then a sensational 138-run partnership between Shubman Gill and Sai Sudarsan that put the hosts in command. Gill scored his third century in the last four innings and scored 129 runs, the highest individual score of the season.