Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India]: Gujarat Titans (GT) opening pair of skipper Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan have a shot at making history, as they are just 54 runs away from overtaking the former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) pairing of AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli for most runs as a pair in a single IPL edition.
Sudharsan and Gill's calculated aggression and assuring presence at the top will be crucial to GT's chances in the final. Having stitched a century stand in Qualifier Two against the Rajasthan Royals (RR), they already own the record of most century stands in T20 cricket with 11.
In 15 innings this season, Sudharsan and Gill have collected 886 runs at an average of 63.28, including four centuries and two fifty-run stands. They have been the mass accumulators for the Titans this season.
Meanwhile, in the 2016 season, AB and Virat together mustered 939 runs at an average of 78.25, with five centuries and two fifty-run stands.
Sudharsan and Gill are the first pair in IPL history to have scored 700 runs each for their team in a single edition. Gill is the second-highest run-getter this season with 722 runs at an average of 48.13 and a strike rate of over 163, with a century and six fifties and a best score of 104. Sudharsan is at third with 710 runs in 16 innings at an average of 47.33 and a strike rate of 159.55, with a century and eight fifties and a best score of 100.
Notably, GT had won six out of seven times when their opening pair had batted beyond the fifth over this season.
Squads:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Squad: Venkatesh Iyer, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar(c), Jitesh Sharma(w), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jacob Duffy, Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Salam Dar, Romario Shepherd, Suyash Sharma, Kanishk Chouhan, Abhinandan Singh, Jordan Cox, Philip Salt, Richard Gleeson, Swapnil Singh, Vicky Ostwal, Vihaan Malhotra, Mangesh Yadav, Satvik Deswal
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Gujarat Titans Squad: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill(c), Jos Buttler(w), Washington Sundar, Rahul Tewatia, Nishant Sindhu, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Kagiso Rabada, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Glenn Phillips, Anuj Rawat, Kumar Kushagra, Arshad Khan, Luke Wood, Connor Esterhuizen, Ishant Sharma, Jayant Yadav, Shahrukh Khan, Kulwant Khejroliya, Manav Suthar, Gurnoor Brar, Ashok Sharma.
