All of us still believe that we can make it to the playoffs: Gill

Gujarat Titans pulled out a genie from their bottle that all their fans and critics alike wanted to see. 

They batted first, and their openers, Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan, were quick off the blocks and scored at nearly 10 runs/over in the powerplay itself - something which they have failed to do so in the past and have received well-justified flak for it. 

However, yesterday (May 10) wasn’t the day for it. Sudharsan and Gill batted together for 17.2 overs and scored 210 together - the joint-highest runs for an opening partnership in the Indian Premier League (IPL) history. That was enough for GT to reach 231 by the end of their innings, and then they stopped CSK at 196/8 while bowling. 

However, the GT skipper was still frustrated at not reaching 250, which he felt was achievable with the platform set by him and his opening partner. 

“When I got out, I was a bit frustrated. As a batting unit, we left 10-25 runs out there,” Gill said. 

“At one point, we were 195/0 in 15 overs, so I thought 250 was a pretty gettable score, and I was thinking about that. We lost our last three games, and it was important for us to win this one, and that is what Sai and I were discussing. Every over, we tried to maximise our opportunities against every challenge thrown at us.”

Gill also praised Sudharsan’s batting, who seems to have a liking for the yellow team in the IPL. Notably, he scored 96 off just 47 deliveries in the IPL 2023 final and took GT to 214, which is the highest score ever in an IPL final.

“It was great, you know, watching him [Sudharsan] bat. Last year he missed out on a hundred in the finals. Having a comeback and the way that he played in the middle overs, watching from the other end. He’s someone who works very hard on his game, so to see him execute those shots was magnificent.”

In bowling, GT was efficiently aided by Mohit Sharma, who made a comeback of sorts in the competition after a great start to the season but then went through a mid-season dip. However, he gave away just 31 runs in his four overs and picked up three CSK batters, including the dangerous Shivam Dube. He held his nerve, and as a result, GT won a do-or-die game. 

“Mohit bhai has done this so many times for us, you know. Coming in the 12th or 13th over and bowls four overs on the trot. In the past two or three years, the way he has bowled in those pressure situations, it’s a revelation for us.”

After the win against Chennai, Gujarat are at 10 points after 12 games. However, with only two games left, the maximum they can reach is 14 points, and then for qualification, they’ll have to depend on other results, including ensuring that they win both their remaining games by huge margins. Despite the potential unlikeliness of this happenstance, Gill seemed confidently optimistic about his team’s chances. 

“The chances of us qualifying was 0.1 or 1 per cent. I think all of us, all 25 of us, we all believe that we can still make it into the playoffs. Because I have seen miracles happen with this team in the past couple of years and we all do believe in that,” Gill said at the post-match press conference.

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