Shubman Gill spoilt the party for Virat Kohli and the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) with a blistering century to lead the table toppers to a very impressive six-wicket victory at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday, May 22. The young opener cancelled out Virat Kohli's second century of the season as GT confirmed RCB's elimination from the competition and Mumbai Indians' (MI) place in the top four.
The Shubman Gill and Vijay Shankar show
Gill was the main aggressor for GT and after Wriddhiman Saha lost his wicket early, he took the game by the scruff of its neck. He was the best batter for his team and combined with Vijay Shankar for a partnership of 123 runs in just 71 balls. Shankar smashes 53 runs off just 35 balls after Gill completed his 50 in just 29 balls.
But Shankar could not last the full duration, and his wicket was taken by Vijaykumar Vyshak, caught brilliantly by Kohli.
Gill goes on
After this, Dasun Shanaka (0) and David Miller (6) fell cheaply but this did nothing to dampen the spirits of Gill. He kept the pressure on the RCB bowlers up to the very end, and finished the match with the first legal ball of the final over off Wayne Parnell's bowling.
After a couple of wides and a no-ball, Shubman, on 98, hit the ball out of the park for a six to finish the game, and the league stage in an exceptional manner.
Earlier, Kohli was the lone ranger with his second successive century to take RCB to 197. The match that started half an hour late saw Kohli (101 not out off 61 balls) as he held all the aces during his knock that had 13 fours and a six.
Kohli creates history
It was his seventh IPL hundred as he went past his former teammate Chris Gayle as the batter with the most number of tournament tons.
Kohli and skipper Faf Du Plessis (28) got off with a flurry of boundaries against Mohammed Shami and Yash Dayal in the powerplay. They were dispatched for as many as nine boundaries which led skipper Hardik Pandya to quickly press his main weapon, Rashid Khan into action to stem the flow of runs.
Kohli singlehanded performance
Rashid and his countryman Noor Ahmad dismissed du Plessis while he tried to hit him inside in a freakish manner. The edge hit Wriddhiman Saha's pads and lobbed up for Rahul Tewatia to complete an easy catch. Glenn Maxwell started off well but Rashid bowled one that was fast and full and just broke back enough to breach the defence of the batter as RCB suddenly found themselves in a rut.
It became worse when Noor dragged Mahipal Lomror with one that turned the other way and Saha completed a leg-side stumping with the finesse that is associated with him for years now.
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