'One of the finest I've seen': Pandya ranks Shubman Gill's century vs MI higher than rest

Shubman Gill stunned the cricketing world with another sensational century in the Indian Premier League during the GT vs MI, IPL 2023 Qualifier 2 on Friday. The 23-year-old smashed 129 runs off just 60 balls, after registering the joint-fastest hundred in the history of IPL playoffs in just 49 balls. After his knock led Gujarat Titans to an 62-run victory against Mumbai Indians and a spot in their second-successive IPL final GT captain Hardik Pandya provided his take on the innings.

The Gujarat Titans admitted to having seen plenty of T20 centuries in his career but ranked Gill’s 129 off 60 higher than the rest. “Something which I told him as well (pointing towards Shubman)/ I have been very fortunate to see a lot of T20 hundreds, but what I saw today was one of the finest I have seen. Out of 60, he played 55 balls unbelievably. Every time you see that we saw those 55 balls, we said that’s a hell of a shot.  So, very proud of him,” said Hardik Pandya in the post-match interview.

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IPL 2023 final: Will Shubman Gill match Virat Kohli's mega record?

This was Shubman Gill’s third century in the last four games, which placed him below Virat Kohli and Jos Buttler on the list of elite batsmen to hit the most hundreds in a season. He completed his hundred in just 49 balls which placed him next to Wriddhiman Saha and Rajat Patidar in the list of batsmen to hit the fastest century in the IPL Playoff.

The Team India youngster smashed 10 sixes en route to his 129 off 60, which is the most by any batsman in the playoffs. Heading into the IPL 2023 final against Chennai Super Kings, Gill finds himself at the top of the Orange Cap standings with 851 runs in 16 games. He will now be looking to match Kohli’s record of scoring four centuries when he walks out to bat against the MS Dhoni-led side on Sunday, May 28.

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IPL 2023 Final, CSK vs GT: Schedule, squads, and more

• Date: Sunday, May 28
• Match begins: 7:30 pm IST
• Venue: Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad
• Live Streaming: Jio Cinema
• Live Telecast: Star Sports Network

Click here to watch full interview

Chennai Super Kings IPL 2023 Squad: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu, Shivam Dube, Moeen Ali, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni(w/c), Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana, Matheesha Pathirana, Mitchell Santner, Subhranshu Senapati, Shaik Rasheed, Akash Singh, Sisanda Magala, Dwaine Pretorius, Ben Stokes, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Prashant Solanki, Simarjeet Singh, RS Hangargekar, Bhagath Varma, Nishant Sindhu

Gujarat Titans IPL 2023 Squad: Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha(w), Hardik Pandya(c), Dasun Shanaka, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Mohit Sharma, Noor Ahmad, Mohammed Shami, Yash Dayal, Vijay Shankar, Srikar Bharat, Shivam Mavi, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Abhinav Manohar, Odean Smith, Alzarri Joseph, Matthew Wade, Darshan Nalkande, Urvil Patel, Sai Sudharsan, Jayant Yadav, Pradeep Sangwan