Gujarat Titans beat Mumbai Indians to reach IPL final

Holders Gujarat Titans stormed into their second successive IPL final, defeating Mumbai Indians by 62 runs in Qualifier 2 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday.

Titans will now face four-time champions Chennai Super Kings in the title clash at the same venue on Sunday.

Shubman Gill’s sensational 129 off 60 balls followed by veteran pacer Mohit Sharma’s impressive fifer (5/10) helped Gujarat Titans thrash Mumbai Indians by 62 runs.

The win also meant that Gujarat entered the IPL final for the second successive time and will meet Chennai Super Kings in Sunday’s title clash at the same venue. Co-incidentally, the first match of IPL 2023 was between Gujarat and Chennai at the very same venue on March 31.

Chasing 234 was always going to be an uphill task for Mumbai. Mohammed Shami struck in his very first over when makeshift opener Nehal Wadhera went for a pull, only to edge behind to keeper. Cameron Green got going with a first-ball four, but retired hurt in second over after being hit on left forearm while trying to fend off Hardik Pandya.

Shami struck again in his second over as Rohit Sharma top-edged a pull to fine leg. Tilak Varma got going by flicking and pulling for two sixes in his first four balls. The left-handed batter smashed Shami for four consecutive boundaries — via late cut, pull and driving twice, before pulling him for six to take 24 runs off the fifth over as Mumbai raced to 65/2.