The penultimate game of the 2023 Indian Premier League, Qualifier 2, is now set.
After Chennai Super Kings booked their place in the Final with a win over defending champions Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 1, Mumbai Indians comprehensively defeated Lucknow Super Giants in the Eliminator.
The Titans will now host Mumbai in Ahmedabad, with one of the strongest bowling attacks going up against one of the strongest batting lineups.
The battle of batting vs bowling
The danger that Mohammad Shami has presented so far during the powerplay will be one to watch, with Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan both looking to score quickly at the top of the innings. There may be scope for the Titans to bring back Irish left-arm pacer Josh Little to proceedings.
Afghan spin duo Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad have bowled well in tandem and will provide a stern test for what is an aggressive, deep and dangerous Mumbai lineup. Both will play a key role one way or another.
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| Rashid Khan has been a huge thorn in Mumbai's side in IPL 2023 and he will likely be pulling out all his tricks again in the Eliminator [CREDIT: IPLT20] |
Shubman Gill has been in sensational form and is likely to be the key man for the Titans, but Piyush Chawla's leg-spin has been hugely effective and that could well be a matchup to watch out for. Akash Madhwal is coming off the back of a brilliant 5-for in the Eliminator against Lucknow Super Giants and he has shown huge ability bowling at the death.
David Miller, Rahul Tewatia and Rashid have all shown their respective hitting quality towards the end of an innings in IPL 2023 so Madhwal, along with Chris Jordan, will have to be in top form to prevent runs being leaked in any area.
Qualifier 1 review – Gujarat Titans vs Chennai Super Kings
There was an extremely soft dismissal for Ruturaj Gaikwad as he chipped debutant Darshan Nalkande straight to midwicket for two. However, despite the Gujarat jubilation, it was shown to be a no-ball after Nalkande overstepped; Gaikwad duly slapped the free hit over long-on for six.
CSK soon reached 49-0 after the powerplay, with Gaikwad having much more of the strike. He got to his fifty in 36 balls, while Devon Conway had only faced 15. Gaikwad clothed one off Mohit Sharma to long-on for 60 off 44 midway through the 11th, with the first wicket falling on 87.
Noor Ahmad then knocked over Shivam Dube for one, before Nalkande eventually got a wicket as Ajinkya Rahane poked one straight to Shubman Gill at backward point for 17 from ten.
Conway then chipped one out to Rashid Khan at deep midwicket for 40 off 34 as Mohammad Shami picked up his first. Rashid then got his first the ball after being struck for six by Ambati Rayudu, who holed out to deep midwicket for 17 off nine.
MS Dhoni hit a Mohit (4-0-31-2) slower ball straight to Hardik Pandya at cover for one, with the wicket being greeted by a silence around the Chennai ground. Shami (4-0-28-2) cleaned up Ravindra Jadeja for 22 from 16 off the last ball of the innings as CSK finished 172-7.
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| Ravindra Jadeja backed up his solid innings with the bat with a superb spell with the ball as he played a crucial part in CSK's passage to the IPL 2023 Final [CREDIT: IPLT20] |
Wriddhiman Saha clipped one out to deep square leg the ball after striking a nice boundary to depart at the hands of Deepak Chahar (4-0-29-2) for 12 off 11. Maheesh Theeksana got the crucial wicket of Titans skipper Hardik as he could only pick out Jadeja at backward point for eight off seven.
Titans were 41-2 after the powerplay, before Dasun Shanaka miscued a reverse sweep off Jadeja to short third man for 17 from 16 midway through the 11th. That wicket, following a small rebuild of the innings between Gill and Shanaka, left Gujarat 72-3 and needing a further 101 in 57 balls.
Jadeja (4-0-18-2) then removed David Miller for four off six with a delivery that deflected off the pad and on to the stumps. The big wicket of Gill fell first ball of the 14th after he was unable to clear Conway at deep square leg following a slower ball from Chahar. With 75 needed off 34, Theekshana (4-0-28-2) went right through Rahul Tewatia for three from five with a beauty that took the off stump out of the ground.
Then, with 37 required from 16 and Rashid and Vijay Shankar threatening a heist, the latter clipped one out towards deep midwicket where Gaikwad took a stunning catch running in and diving while just about getting his hands under the ball; Shankar departed for 14 off ten. Nalkande was then run out first ball thanks to a brilliant direct hit from Subhranshu Senapati.
With Rashid striking the ball cleanly and finding the boundary with regularity, Dhoni strengthened the off-side and the Afghan duly struck a wide yorker straight to Conway at deep cover for 30 off 16, leaving 31 needed off nine with just one wicket remaining.
The tenth wicket was taken with the final ball of the match as Matheesha Pathirana got his second, with Chennai winning by 15 runs to head into the Final and claim their first IPL win over Gujarat.
Eliminator review – Lucknow Super Giants vs Mumbai Indians
Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma charged and struck a full ball from Naveen ul-Haq straight to Ayush Badoni at extra cover for 11 off ten. Yash Thakur then rushed Ishan Kishan with a sharp back-of-a-length delivery that Rohit's fellow opener could only get an edge on as he nicked behind for 15 from 12.
Mumbai got to 62-2 after the powerplay and were 98-2 at halfway, with Cam Green and Suryakumar Yadav going very well. Naveen undid Suryakumar with a brilliant slower ball that he could only chip down to long-off for 33 from 20. The Afghan pacer then incredibly did it again two balls later to get the big wicket of Green bowled for 41 off 23 with another top class slower ball.
Tim David departed for a run-a-ball 13 after clothing a full toss from Yash to long-on to leave Mumbai 148-5 midway through the 17th. After three wides in a row, Naveen removed Tilak Varma for 26 from 22 as he struck one to long-off where Deepak Hooda took a solid catch running in.
Chris Jordan was next to go for four off seven as he skied Mohsin Khan to long-off. Yash (4-0-34-3) got his third with the last ball of the innings as Impact player Nehal Wadhera holed out to long-off, but not before he had taken 14 off the over to get 23 off 12 and Mumbai to 182-8.
Prerak Mankad sliced Akash Madhwal to deep backward point for three from six, before Kyle Mayers then clothed one to Green at mid-on for 18 off 13. LSG captain Krunal holed out to long-on for eight off 11 as Piyush Chawla made the breakthrough.
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| Akash Madhwal took a sensational 5-5 in 3.3 overs to steer Mumbai Indians into Qualifier 2 against Gujarat Titans [CREDIT: IPLT20] |
After three dots to start the tenth, Madhwal went straight through Badoni for just one off seven after the LSG batter had played a wild slog looking to break the shackles. Next ball, Madhwal got in-form Nicholas Pooran first ball with a beauty that the West Indian could only nick behind.
Super Giants were in big trouble as they reached 75-5 at halfway and things worsened when an incredibly unfortunate run out did for Marcus Stoinis after he and Hooda collided in the middle, with the main hope departed for 40 off 27. Another horror run out soon followed as Krishnappa Gowtham was victim of a direct hit from Rohit to go for two from three.
The hundred finally came up two balls into the 15th, with no boundary having been scored in 25 balls. That did not change the following ball as Ravi Bishnoi clothed one to long-on as Madhwal got his fourth. The third run out of the innings came just two balls later with Hooda the man to go for 15 off 13 after a huge mix-up with Naveen.
Madhwal then cleaned up Mohsin to claim extraordinary figures of 5-5 in three and a half overs as Mumbai took a comprehensive win by 81 runs with 21 deliveries still remaining to seal their spot against Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2.
What happened in the previous two IPL 2023 matches between Gujarat Titans and Mumbai Indians?
IPL 2023 Match 35 - Gujarat Titans vs Mumbai Indians
In the first match, in Ahmedabad, Mumbai won the toss and chose to field first. It looked like it could have been a good idea when Saha went early and Hardik departed first ball after the powerplay with the score on 50. Gill played a typically classy innings before he holed out to long-on for 56 off 34, before Shankar followed soon after.
The game-changing duo were then brought together, with Miller and Abhinav Manohar putting on 71 in 35 balls with the latter departing for 42 from 21 at the beginning of the 19th. Miller succumbed to Behrendorff for 46 off 22 with the penultimate delivery of the innings, but in the meantime Tewatia had struck three sixes to finish 20 from just five as Gujarat racked up 207-6.
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| David Miller and Abhinav Manohar put on a brisk partnership to help Gujarat to what proved to be a comfortable winning total in the first of two meetings vs Mumbai Indians in IPL 2023 league stage [CREDIT: IPLT20] |
In response, Rohit was dismissed at the end of the second over for just two from eight. Kishan's struggle ended on 13 from 21 midway through the eighth, before Tilak was dismissed by Rashid off the last ball of the same over to leave Mumbai 45-3.
Green had struck three maximums in his innings off 33 off 26 but perished second ball of the tenth with Mumbai way behind the required rate and things got worse when Noor removed David two balls later. Suryakumar began to get into the swing of things but Noor had him caught and bowled for 23 from 12. Wadhera smoked 40 from 21 but it was ultimately too little too late as Gujarat triumphed by 55 runs.
IPL 2023 Match 57 - Mumbai Indians vs Gujarat Titans
In the return fixture at the Wankhede Stadium, it was Gujarat that won the toss and they decided to also let their opponents bat first. Rohit and Kishan got off to a blazing start as they reached 61-0 after the powerplay, before Rashid dismissed them both in the seventh for 29 off 18 and 31 off 20 respectively.
That brought Suryakumar to the crease at number three and he soon embarked on what would be one of the innings of the tournament. He reached his fifty in a fairly circumspect 32 balls but raced to an incredible century just 17 balls later as he finished 103 not out in 49 balls.
He reached the milestone off the final delivery of the innings to move Mumbai to an imposing 218-5; Rashid took 4-30 off his four overs amid the madness.
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| Suryakumar Yadav struck a stunning maiden IPL hundred in the return match vs Gujarat Titans in Mumbai [CREDIT: IPLT20] |
It was likely to be a tricky task for Gujarat and things could not have started much worse for them as they lost Saha, Hardik and Gill inside the powerplay to slip to 26-3 at the end of the fourth. Shankar went for a quickfire 29 off 14 the ball after the powerplay, with Abhinav gone the following over.
Miller put up some resistance but he departed for 41 from 26 off the final delivery of the 12th with the score 100-6. Two quick wickets followed as Tewatia and Noor were dismissed and the Titans were all but out of sight of the target at 103-8 with 40 balls to go.
Rashid, though, had other ideas. He began what was an astonishing assault on the Mumbai attack, striking some of the cleanest boundaries the tournament had seen to that point. He hit ten sixes in all as he finished on a sensational 79 not out off just 32 balls as he got Gujarat to within just 27 of Mumbai's total.
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