Gujarat Titans vs Mumbai Indians, Qualifier 2 - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

But today’s game was all about the Prince of Indian cricket, Shubman Gill. A prince that is making some very long strides towards cricket immortality. A prince who’s kingdom and reign could be vast and stretch a long, long period of time if he can continue to match these levels. A prince who bows ever so benevolently in celebration every time he scores a century. The kind of form he has hit now, don't be surprised if there's another century in the final when Gujarat take on Chennai. We'll bring you all the action of that final, but for now this is Saurabh Shankar signing off on behalf of Ramakrishnan MS, Abhinand Raghavendran and Siva.

So this Mumbai Indians bowling unit finally hits their expiry date. They were being carried for the bulk of the season thanks to that explosive batting line-up, but today was a bridge too far. Still, finishing 3rd despite so many injury concerns for MI is commendable. They can exit the IPL with their heads held high.

Shubman Gill | Player of the Match: For me, it is playing ball to ball, over to over. The over where I hit three sixes gave me the momentum to go big. That's when I realised it could be my day. It was a good wicket to bat on as well. Not a conscious decision, you keep inventing as a batter but for me the belief is more important. I am coming off a good international season as well. Had a good season last time as well. When I start well, I feel confident I can score well. From the last WI tour, I think I have shifted a gear, I got injured before the last IPL but I have been working on my game. I have worked on a few areas and made technical changes ahead of the NZ series after the T20I World Cup. Expectations are something that follow you outside the ropes, but once you step on the field it is all about trying how to contribute for the team. I think this was probably my best innings so far in the IPL.

Hardik Pandya | GT captain: I think a lot of hard work goes behind the guys doing well. They keep practising, that reflects. I think the clarity and confidence he is carrying is amazing. (On Shubman) Today's innings was one of the finest, he never looked rushed. It felt like someone was throwing balls and he was hitting. He will be a superstar in international and franchise cricket. I do have conversations with him, I try that people feed off my energy. Everyone takes responsibility for themselves. (On Rashid) I think we've spoken enough about him. He's been the man I can rely on when the team is in a tough situation. We have to play good cricket, put in our 100%. Knockouts could go either way, but very excited for the final.

Mohit Sharma: I was a bit lucky to get five wickets so quickly. The ball was skidding nicely, but the way SKY and Tilak were batting we felt the game could slip if they didn’t get out. I had decided that if I am bowling against SKY, I won’t experiment much. We had a meeting where we discussed that we mustn't try too much against Surya, it makes things easier for him. So the idea was to bowl length balls. Even if we get hit for six sixes it doesn't matter, because we felt that is the length most difficult for him to play his shots. The match wasn’t over at that stage, but that wicket (Surya's wicket) meant that we were in the game. There was a big relief to take that wicket. I felt we can visualize the final only after that last wicket, we here at GT have won and lost games from baffling situations before, so it is never over till it is over.

Rohit Sharma | MI captain: It was a great total, Shubman batted really well. The wicket was really good. They got 25 extra, with the batting we had we were quite positive when we went in. Couldn't stitch enough partnerships. Green and Surya batted well but we lost our way. We spoke about giving it a good crack, we lost a couple of wickets in the powerplay and did not get the momentum when chasing a target like that. We wanted one batter just like how Shubman batted till the end, and you never know - one side is shorter and the wicket was good, anything can happen, credit where it is due, Gujarat played well. We did not expect that, he had a bit of a concussion, I don't know how it happened [on Ishan]. We have been talking about adapting to different conditions and different situations. I won't look into that, we did not play well to win the game. Playing this game and qualifying as 3rd gives us a lot of confidence, our batting has been the biggest positive, some of the younger players especially and take it to next season and see what you can do. All the bowling teams have been challenged this season, looking at what happened in the previous game, we had a great performance. Got to give credit to Shubman, he is in great form and I hope he continues that [smiles]. Tim through the season we have given him a role - certain situations where he is going to bat. Vishnu is a good player and I have seen that personally and I'm not going to look at anything in judgement today, Gujarat played well.

Stats courtesy our statsperson Roshan Gede

Highest match-aggregates in IPL playoffs
428 - PBKS vs CSK, Mumbai WS, 2014 Q2
408 - SRH vs RCB, Bengaluru, 2016 Final
404 - GT vs MI, Ahmedabad, 2023 Q2
400 - RCB vs LSG, Kolkata, 2022 Eliminator

Suryakumar Yadav in run-chases this season
Inns: 10
Runs: 420
Avg: 46.66
SR: 189.18
50s: 5
HS: 83
Highest strike-rate in an IPL season (min. 500 runs)
204.82 - Andre Russell (KKR, 2019)
187.76 - Glenn Maxwell (PBKS, 2014)
183.13 - Chris Gayle (RCB, 2011)
181.13 - Suryakumar Yadav (MI, 2023)

Most wickets in death overs this season
16 - Matheesha Pathirana (CSK)
14 - Mohit Sharma (GT)
11 - Harshal Patel (RCB)
11 - Tushar Deshpande (CSK)
11 - Yuzvendra Chahal (RR)

GT is the third team to make it to two successive IPL finals after CSK and MI.

Best bowling returns for GT
5/10 - Mohit Sharma vs MI, Ahmedabad, 2023
4/11 - Mohammed Shami vs DC, Ahmedabad, 2023
4/21 - Mohammed Shami vs SRH, Ahmedabad, 2023
4/24 - Rashid Khan vs LSG, Pune, 2022

Best bowling returns in IPL playoffs
5/5 - Akash Madhwal (MI) vs LSG, Chennai, 2023 Eliminator
5/10 - Mohit Sharma (GT) vs MI, Ahmedabad, 2023 Q2
4/13 - Doug Bollinger (CSK) vs Deccan Chargers, Mumbai (DYP), 2010 SF
4/14 - Jasprit Bumrah (MI) vs DC, Dubai, 2020 Q1
4/14 - Dhawal Kulkarni (GL) vs RCB, Bengaluru, 2016 Q1

Biggest win margins in IPL playoffs (by runs)
105 - RR vs DC, Mumbai WS, 2008 SF
86 - CSK vs DC, Chennai, 2012 Q2
81 - MI vs LSG, Chennai, 2023 Eliminator
71 - RCB vs RR, Pune, 2015 Eliminator
62 - GT vs MI, Ahmedabad, 2023 Q2

MI's first defeat in playoffs since the 2017 Qualifier vs RPS at Wankhede.

23:58 Local Time, 18:28 GMT, 23:58 IST: Back-to-back finals for Gujarat Titans. They win the second qualifier by 62 runs, but don't let the margin of defeat fool you because MI were keeping pace with the chase for quite a while. They lost Ishan Kishan before the innings began, and impact sub Nehal Wadhera was out first over, falling to Shami. The Indian pacer struck again, as Rohit miscued his pull towards fine-leg. Tilak Varma came out and scored at a brisk rate, smoking 24 runs off a Shami over. However, he was knocked over by Rashid in the final powerplay over. MI then found their best phase with Cam Green and Suryakumar stitching a nice partnership, but then Josh Little knocked down the big Aussie. From there, the innings went downhill, and although SKY threatened to take the game away once again, he couldn't do everything. Suryakumar was dismissed shortly after his 50, as Mohit Sharma struck in his first over. And then what a game the comeback man had, as he cleaned out the tail and finished with his best IPL figures - 5/10. GT storm into the final thanks to a solid bowling performance, but that wouldn't have been possible without a sensational century from Shubman Gill. It was a Shubman century that got MI to the playoffs, and it will now be a Shubman century that knocks them out....

Mohit Sharma to Kartikeya, out Caught by Miller!! Wow!! A fifer for Mohit, and he has bowled just 14 balls in this spell. Slot ball on the sticks, Kartikeya tries to slam it down the ground but holes out to long-on. David Miller takes a regulation catch there. GT are into the finals again... Kartikeya c Miller b Mohit Sharma 6(7) [4s-1]

Mohit Sharma to Kartikeya, THATS OUT!! Caught!!

Mohit Sharma to Behrendorff, 1 run, pace off and full, heaved towards deep mid-wicket

Joshua Little to Kartikeya, no run, good length and wide, swing and a miss