Sai Sudharshan, Shubman Gill overshadow KL Rahul's hundred to take Gujarat Titans to IPL playoffs

During this process, they took the Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru along for the knockouts. These three teams will now turn their focus to trying to make it to the top two, which will be important for them considering they will get two chances to make it to the finals, and also only once has a team outside the top two ever lifted the trophy, which was Sunrisers Hyderabad back in 2016.

Earlier, the Titans won the toss and put Delhi Capitals into bat, KL Rahul opened for DC - a change that seems to have been triggered in part by the rut DC had got into off late and the poor run of scores by the other batsmen who were tried there.

Rahul began cautiously, and it seemed the pitch might have affected the way the top order approached the game as they managed to score only 28 off the 1st five overs with the loss of Faf.

Rahul then opened up, scoring Rabada for 17 runs on the 1st over that he bowled for GT, eventually finishing with 0/34 off his 2 overs. The momentum seemed to shift as DC steadily upped the tempo, with Rahul, who ended up with a wonderful century, ending up with 112 off 65 balls.

He found able support in Abishek Porel, who scored 30, Axar, who made 25, and finally Stubbs, who gave the innings a final push with a quickfire 21 off just 10 balls, even as DC finished marginally short of 200. For GT, Arshad, Rashid and Sai Kishore picked a wicket each.

In response, GT made short work of the target, with the opening pair remaining unbeaten, even as they knocked off the target with an over to spare. They finished at 205 for no loss with Sai Sudharshan finishing with a magnificent 108 not out, ably supported by Shubman Gill, who finished with 93 not out. Both of them crossed 600 runs in this season during the course of the innings, occupying the top two spots.

With the playoffs in the bag, and Buttler set to leave soon, they would now try and get some of the other batters a go in the next couple of games. The DC bowlers were hapless, with all of them being hit at some point of the game or other by the prolific opening pair. Natarajan suffered the most, going for 49 off his 3 overs.

DC on the other hand have their work cut out - they still have their fate in their own hands, with two games to go, they will need to win both to ensure the last remaining spot, a defeat to MI will knock them out while a win against MI will not assure them of a qualification should they lose their final game and Mumbai win their last. LSG too still remain in contention, though their chances are the weakest among the three remaining teams.

(With inputs from IPL website)