That is it from this game and it is Gujarat who are guaranteed a top-two with this win. The action in the 2023 Indian T20 League continues on Tuesday, the 16th of May with another vital clash on the cards. Lucknow go up against Mumbai at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow as both sides look to stamp their authority in the top four of the points table. That game will begin at 7.30 pm IST (2 pm GMT) but our build-up will begin a lot sooner. Cheers!

Shubman Gill (101 runs off 58 balls) is the PLAYER OF THE MATCH for his superb century. Gill starts by saying that it is quite pleasing as he made his debut against Hyderabad and now to get his first hundred against them as well feels like it has come full circle. Adds that he isn't the kind of person who dwells much on his last performance and focuses on the match at hand. Mentions that the most satisfying shot was the six he hit off Abhishek Sharma as they are childhood friends and it was nice to get one over him.

The Gujarat skipper, Hardik Pandya says he is very proud of the boys as they managed to qualify for the playoffs for a second year in a row. Adds that the team has played brilliantly and stepped up to the challenges. Mentions that the focus was to keep it tight within the group. Shares that all the players did their job and that is the reason for our success. Closes by saying that bowlers are close to his heart and he will always be a bowler’s captain to give them the due credit they deserve.

The Presentation ceremony...

One of the standouts with the ball for Gujarat, Mohammad Shami is down for a quick chat. Shami says that right from the start his job at Gujarat has been to bowl well in the Powerplay and looks to bowl tight lines. Adds that he simply tries to bowl in good areas and at the team meets, they always discuss about bowling well with the new ball. Mentions that the last game they played against Delhi, this wicket was similar to that one. Says that the variety they have in the middle overs always helps the side to win more games.

Aiden Markram, the captain of Hyderabad says that they believed that they were in the game at the halfway mark but losing 4 wickets in the Powerplay did not help. Adds that they did not get the swing as expected in the first innings. Mentions that they got better deep into the innings with the ball and Bhuvneshwar Kumar showed the way for them. Mentions that Heinrich Klaasen has got great power and timing but the rest of the batters have not assisted him. Shares that they will be playing for pride and hopes to give a few opportunities to the young players. Closes by saying that it was important to break the partnership and Bhuvneshwar Kumar along with T Natarajan did the job for them but it wasn’t their day tonight.

Earlier in the game, it was Aiden Markram who put Gujarat into bat and it brought Hyderabad early success too as Bhuvneshwar Kumar got rid of Wriddhiman Saha in the very first over. It was a completely different ball game after that though as Shubman Gill just kept on finding the fence and Sai Sudharsan supported him really well. The pair put on 147 runs for the second wicket before Sudharsan got out and that allowed Hyderabad to pick up wickets in a heap. Gill kept going and went on to score a brilliant ton but couldn't press on. Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled wonderfully at the death and picked up a well-deserved five-wicket haul to keep Gujarat to 189 when at one point they seemed to be heading toward the 210-220 run mark. Coming to the chase, it was pretty much dominated by Gujarat barring a fighting knock by Heinrich Klaasen.

This loss just sums up Hyderabad's whole season. Just like the last game, they let all the momentum slip and simply imploded with the bat in this game. Having done really well with the ball in the backend of the first innings, the Hyderabad openers walked back early to the hut and from thereon, it was all gloomy for them. At 59/7, it all seemed to be over for them but then Heinrich Klaasen, probably their only consistent player throughout the tournament stepped up yet again. and he along with Bhuvneshwar Kumar put on a 68-run stand with Klaasen doing most of the heavy lifting. Klaasen got out for 64 with Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mayank Markande playing decent cameos but it just wasn't anywhere enough to get them the win.

Having lost a lot of momentum with the bat in the final stages of the first innings, Gujarat were able to regain that momentum as Mohammad Shami picked up a wicket in the very first over. Yash Dayal then followed it up with a wicket of his own and soon Gujarat were all over the opponent. Shami picked up three wickets inside the Powerplay and Mohit Sharma picked up a couple of wickets to have the opposition struggling at 59/7 in 9 overs. The spinners however couldn't pick up wickets in the middle phase. Shami came back on to pick up his fourth and then Sharma too came back at the death to end up with four wickets and Gujarat cruised to victory.

GUJARAT ARE THROUGH TO THE PLAYOFFS! We finally have the first confirmed team in the 2023 Indian T20 League that is heading into the next phase of the competition and it is the reigning champions themselves. It was a comfortable victory in the end but Gujarat let it slip a bit in the middle phase and will be delighted to get over the line comfortably in the end.

Fazalhaq Farooqi is the last man in for Hyderabad.