IPL 2023: Gujarat Titans Become First Team To Qualify For Playoffs; A Look At Journey Of GT In IPL Season 16

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Ahmedabad, May 15: Gujarat Titans became the first team to qualify for the playoffs in the IPL 2023 after defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad by 34 runs in their last league match on their home ground on Monday (May 15).

With 18 points in 13 games, the defending champions have become the first team to enter the knock-out stages for the straight second time. The Hardik Pandya-led side had to prove that their performance in their debut season wasn't a fluke.

Young Gujarat Titans' batter Shubman Gill slammed a sparkling maiden IPL century before Bhuvneshwar Kumar's brilliant five-wicket haul stopped GT at 188 for nine.

With the ball in hand, GT restricted SRH to 154 for nine. Heinrich Klaasen top-scored with a 44-ball 64 for SRH while Mohammed Shami and Mohit Sharma bagged four wickets apiece for the hosts.

Put in to bat first, GT lost Wriddhiman Saha for a duck but Gill smashed 101 off 58 balls to help his team set a solid platform. The duo of Gill and Sai Sudharsan, who chipped in with 47 off 36 balls, added 147 runs for the second wicket to power GT's innings.

For SRH, seasoned seamer Bhuvneshwar finished with figures of 5/30, including taking three wickets in an excellent final over that pegged back GT. Heinrich Klaasen - who has been pretty consistent with the bat - slammed a 44-ball 64 but found no support from the other end and kept running out of partners.

Reacting over his team's emphatic win and second successive IPL playoffs finish, captain Hardik Pandya commended his teammates for rising to the challenges thrown in their way and claimed they've ticked a lot of good boxes and committed many errors as well in their title defence campaign.

"Very proud of the boys, two in two (making it to the playoffs twice in a row). The boys put their hands up in challenging situations and we rightly deserve the playoff spot," Hardik said at the post-match presentation.

The India all-rounder went on to reveal how the team performed under the pressure of expectations. " There will be expectations and for me, it was important to focus within the group. We ticked a lot of good boxes, we made a lot of errors but we were always there in the game and tried to stay consistent," he stated.

Hardik also had a few extra words of appreciation for his bowlers and went on claiming himself as a bowlers' captain. "Bowlers are very close to my heart. Sometimes batters take a lot of credit. I will always be a bowler's captain and ensure they get due credit they very much deserve," he concluded.

Gujarat Titans' qualification to the playoffs heats up the race as there are only three spots up for grabs. With their defeat, SRH have also become the second team after Delhi Capitals to be eliminated from the playoffs race. That means, there are still six teams in contention.

Gujarat Titans Top Performers in IPL 2023

Most Runs For GT In IPL 2023: Shubman Gill - 576 Runs | 13 Matches | 146.19 SR | 62 x Fours | 14 x Sixes | 4 x 50s | 1 x 100s

Most Wickets For GT In IPL 2023:

Mohammed Shami: 23 Wickets | 13 Matches | 7.55 Economy

Rashid Khan: 23 Wickets | 13 Matches | 7.96 Economy

Mohit Sharma: 17 Wickets | 10 Matches | 7.46 Economy

Gujarat Titans' Journey in IPL 2023

Total Matches Played (till May 15) - 13; Won - 9; Lost - 4; Net Run Rate - 0.835