Defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT) will lock horns with five time champions Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Qualifier 2 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday.
The winner of the high-octane encounter will meet Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the summit clash on Sunday. Earlier Hardik Pandya-led GT were beaten by CSK by 15 runs. They will aim to make their second successive final by getting the better of high-flying MI.
GT were the best side during the group stage of the tournament, finishing on top of the standings with a total of 19 points. The top-two finish came with some benefits as they have got two chances to reach the final.
MI, on the other hand, beat Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by a big margin of 81 runs in the Eliminator to enter the Qualifier 2. The Rohit Sharma-led side are five-time champions and they have the best experience of playing in knockout games. It will be fascinating to watch Hardik and his former IPL skipper at loggerheads in qualifier-2.
Pitch report
The Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad is pretty conducive for batters. The flat track has even amount of bounce and it will offer plenty of runs. Though the pacers may be able to gain some swing in the early overs, the batters will make merry in the middle overs. With the boundaries being relatively short and the outfield having a quick pace, high scores are expected on the track.
Record
The team batting second has great records on the ground. They have maintained a winning percentage of 60 on this stadium.
Weather report:
The weather forecast for the IPL 2023 Qualifier 2 game between GT and MI is good with the temperature hovering between 31-37 degrees Celsius with humidity of 28 per cent and wind speed of 13 km/hr.
Head-to-head
In the three games played between the two teams, MI have their nose ahead of GT with two victories.
Probable XIs
Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha, Vijay Shankar, Hardik Pandya, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Dasun Shanaka, Mohammed Shami, Noor Ahmad, Mohit Sharma.
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Nehal Wadhera, Cameron Green, Tim David, Piyush Chawla, Chris Jordan, Jason Behrendorff, Akash Madhwal.