IPL: Gill (63*), Rashid (4-24) lead Titans into playoffs
Gujarat Titans 144 for 4 (Gill 63*, Avesh 2-26) beat Lucknow Super Giants 82 (Rashid Khan 4-24) by 62 runs
Gujarat Titans secured their place in the Indian Premier League play-offs with a dominant 62-run win over Lucknow Super Giants.
The two competition debutants have enjoyed sparkling first seasons in the league and each went into this game with just three defeats.
But the Titans comfortably had the upper hand on Tuesday, cruising to victory despite being restricted to 144-4 with the bat.
Shubman Gill’s unbeaten 63 got them to that total, before Rashid Khan (4-24) starred with the ball as the Super Giants crumbled to 82 all out in reply.
Gill hit seven fours as his impressive form continued, the opener anchoring the Titans’ innings and combining for critical partnerships of 52 with David Miller (26) and 41 with Rahul Tewatia (22 not out).
Lucknow would likely have been confident of a successful chase despite those stands; however, their hopes soon diminished as they lost four wickets in under eight overs.
Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore took a tricky catch to dismiss Quinton de Kock (11) one delivery after he had top-edged Yash Dayal for six. Dayal removed Karan Sharma after Mohammed Shami took the key wicket of KL Rahul, with Rashid then ending Krunal Pandya’s brief innings as he was stumped by Wriddhiman Saha.
Saha stumped Ayush Badoni and ran out Marcus Stoinis before Jason Holder and Mohsin Khan fell within an over of each other to Sai Kishore and Rashid respectively.
It was Rashid who finished things off with the wickets of Super Giants top-scorer Deepak Hooda (27) and Avesh Khan (12), who had hit him for successive sixes before being given out caught behind on review.
Shubman succeeds again
Shubman backed up his half-century against Mumbai Indians last time out with another here. It marked the fourth of the tournament for a player who is fourth on the list of top run-scorers with 384.
Gujarat book their place
Gujarat will finish among the final four after moving onto 18 points from 12 games.
The only question remaining for the Titans is whether they will secure the top spot to ensure they will get two attempts to make the final. (SportsMax)
