Shubman Gill scored a stunning 129 from 60 balls as the starting Gujarat Titans beat Mumbai Indians to reach the Indian Premier League final.
After being dropped on the 30th, the Gujarat fly-half held off the Mumbai attack with seven fours and 10 sixes.
The century was his third in four innings as the Titans went 233-3, before Mumbai fell to 171, with Mohit Sharma taking 5-10.
Gujarat will now face Chennai Super Kings in Sunday’s final in Ahmedabad.
Gill masterclass makes mumbai pay
After rain delayed the start of Qualifier 2 by half an hour, Gujarat were invited to strike first.
Although there were signs of the supreme moment that was to follow, Gill should have participated in the final round of the power play.
England dressmaker Chris Jordan forced an error but Tim David couldn’t hold on, despite putting both hands on the ball after diving forward from the middle.
David finally took the hold to dismiss Gill – some 99 points later.
The 23-year-old was imperious and hit 50 from 32 balls, but that was just the start.
Gill needed just 17 balls to go from 50 to 100 with a stunning display of shots that were as elegant as they were explosive.
Akash Madhwal was dispatched for three sixes in one over and Piyush Chawla crushed the ropes twice more in the next. Having reached triple figures, Gill also beat out Cameron Green.
The Indian slugger is only the third player to score three hundred or more in an IPL season after Virat Kohli and Jos Buttler, who scored four in 2016 and 2022 respectively.
Even when Gill finished 17th, there was no respite for Mumbai as Titans skipper Hardik Pandya came in and continued the onslaught.
The hunt in Mumbai is running out of steam
Mumbai lost openers Rohit Sharma and Nehal Wadhera within three overs of the answer, while Green had to retire injured between those two dismissals after being hit in the elbow by a Pandya bumper.
The five-time winners had already had to replace Ishan Kishan due to a concussion following an accidental collision with team-mate Jordan, but managed to stay in contention thanks to Tilak Varma’s impressive strike.
The southpaw hit five fours and three sixes before being casted by Rashid Khan to end his 14-for-43 run.
Green was able to come back and put up 52 with Suryakumar Yadav, whose mere presence meant Gujarat victory was far from assured.
But Irish lefthander Josh Little launched Green and Yadav was launched by Mohit shortly after throwing a half-century 33 ball to end Mumbai’s charge.
Mohit cruised through the lower order to claim career-best T20 numbers and fire Gujarat, in only their second IPL campaign, to the final.
You can listen to full ball-by-ball commentary from the IPL final between Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans on Sunday 28 May on the BBC Sport website and app from 2.55pm BST (UK users only).
