Despite sitting at the top of the points table at the end of their penultimate league match, the 33-run loss against LSG has left GT in a tricky position in their bid to qualify for Qualifier 1 in a tightly-contested match as well. However, the Gujarat Titans have 18 points from 13 games.

Placed right after them are Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Punjab Kings, both with 17 points each and one more game to play. Mumbai Indians, with 16 points from 13 games, aren’t mathematically out of the race for a top-two finish either as well.

Despite the loss, Gujarat Titans captain Shubman Gill is happy that the middle order got some time in the middle. “We gave 15-20 runs extra,” Gill admitted in the post-match presentation. “We wanted to stop them around 210. [There’s a] Huge difference between 210 and 230. We bowled well in the powerplay, didn’t get any wickets, but after the powerplay in the 14 overs they scored around 180 runs, which was a lot.”

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“We were right in the game till the 17th over, it was never easy chasing 240. Lots of positives for us – Rutherford and Shahrukh’s batting was a big plus. Getting back some momentum would be key, would want to get back to winning ways heading into the playoffs,” he further added.

While the learnings have come at an important time for Titans, the win came a tad too late for LSG, who ended their losing streak, which had stretched to four games as well.

Rishabh Pant, the LSG skipper, said, “We have shown as a team that we can play good cricket. There was a time in the tournament when we had the chance to qualify. But that’s part and parcel of the game. We need to learn and get better. There were injury concerns coming into the tournament. The way Mitch, Markram, and Pooran batted, and the whole batting unit in fact… While fielding, we made lapses. We have to learn from it and move forward.”