Gujarat Titans captain and star opener, Shubman Gill, scored a majestic century to help his side beat Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets in the IPL 2026 Qualifier 2 match in Mullanpur on Friday.
With the win, GT set up the final with Royal Challengers Bengaluru, which will be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday. Chasing a target of 215, GT captain Gill slammed 104 off 53 balls, with the help of 15 fours and three sixes. Sai Sudharsan also helped the team’s cause with a 58-run knock off 32 balls. The duo stitched a 167-run partnership for the opening wicket, nearly finishing the game there.
Ravichandran Ashwin praised the GT pair and explained that the opposition bowlers need to start well against Gill-Sudharsan, as the batters wouldn’t give them a second chance.
“Jofra Archer gave away 19 runs in the first over. The game ended there. You can afford to give 19 or 20 runs and still come back into the game against SRH because they play in just one tempo and don’t think about building the innings. But if you start like this against Sai Sudharsan and Shubman Gill, they will murder you,” said Ashwin on his YouTube channel.
Gill’s terrific century always kept GT in command in the chase of 215.
“The improvement shown by Shubman Gill in this IPL is a lesson for everyone. He is an attritional batter and always scores volumes of runs for the Orange Cap, but he knew that he had to score quicker this time. He created options within the powerplay,” said Ashwin.
Earlier, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi scored 96 off 47 balls as RR posted 214 for six. Sooryavanshi became the fastest batter to score 1,000 IPL runs in terms of balls faced. The teenager reached the mark in 440 balls, surpassing Andre Russell’s 545-ball record by a big margin. He also became the first batter to smash 500 runs in the Powerplay in a single IPL season. Jason Holder and Kagiso Rabada picked up two wickets each after RR captain Riyan Parag won the toss and opted to bat.