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After thrashing Mumbai Indians by 62 runs in the Qualifier 2, defending champions Gujarat Titans will now be facing Chennai Super Kings in the final of IPL 2023 on Sunday. Asked to bat first, the defending champions posted a whopping total of 233/3 in 20 overs after Shubman Gill smashed 129 runs off just 60 balls. Later, MI were bundled out for 171 as Mohit Sharma took a five-wicket haul. The MS Dhoni-led side had defeated Gujarat in the Qualifier 1 by 15 runs and it was also their first victory over the Hardik Pandya-led team in four meetings.
However, the previous match was played at Chepauk, which is CSK’s fortress and things can go the other way on Sunday as both the teams will be facing each other in Ahmedabad, GT’s home ground.
GT’s strengths
Shubman Gill’s fiery form: Young opener Shubman Gill has been stealing all the limelight for the past few matches as he has scored three centuries, with the most recent one coming against Mumbai Indians in the Qualifier 2. Being the highest run-scorer of the season so far, Gill will be looking to put up another great show with the bat.
Strong middle-order:With the likes of David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar in their squad, GT’s middle-order looks extremely promising, when it comes to chasing high totals. Though Miller and Tewatia haven’t gotten many opportunities this season, Vijay had a brilliant outing with a total of 301 runs in 13 matches, laced with three half-centuries.
Impressive Rashid Khan: Afghanistan all-rounder Rashid Khan has once again proved himself to be an asset for his side. With his powerful spin, he has scalped a total of 27 wickets and is currently the second-highest wicket-taker of the season. Apart from this, he has also shown his skills as a brilliant batter with his 79-run knock off 32 balls against MI.
Blistering pace attack: It will not be wrong to call GT the most-balanced team of IPL 2023 as they have been up to the mark in all the departments. Apart from having strong spin options in the form of Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad, they also consist of a blistering pace-attack of Mohammed Shami and Mohit Sharma. Shami is currently the highest wicket-taker of the season with 28 scalps while Mohit will be coming to this match after taking a fifer against MI.
GT’s weakness
Mediocre performance from Hardik: One of the major disappointments for GT this season was their skipper Hardik Pandya’s mediocre outing. The star all-rounder failed to leave a mark with both bat and ball as he scored 325 runs in 15 matches and scalped only three wickets.
Saha’s flop show: Wriddhiman Saha, a keeper-par-excellence, would consider himself lucky, that team management never thought of replacing him despite a strike-rate of 127 opening the batting and only one fifty-plus score in 16 knocks.
Too much dependency on Gill: Despite having a strong batting attack, the entire team is too much dependent on Shubman Gill for a big knock. It will be important for the entire team to rise on the occasion when facing CSK in the summit clash on Sunday.
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