Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Gujarat Titans (GT) competed in the final league stage match of IPL 2023 at Bengaluru. RCB needed to win to qualify, while GT had already qualified as table-toppers and booked their berth in the Qualifier 1.
GT eventually proved to be too good for the hosts in a high-scoring match, which saw two sensational tons from Virat Kohli of RCB and Shubman Gill of GT, with the latter securing a win for his team and helping Mumbai Indians progress to the playoffs.
Earlier, Kohli's unbeaten 101 had powered RCB to 197/5 despite the next best being just 28 by Faf du Plessis. This was Kohli's 7th IPL hundred, the most by any batter in the history of the league and his second consecutive hundred.
In a classic case of the Master and Apprentice, Gill responded in kind as he too hit back-to-back tons and scored the winning runs to be 104* as GT won by 6 wickets with five balls to spare.
Gill idolizes Kohli and has said the same often, and the duo share a wonderful friendship as well. There was no better example of this as Kohli overcame the pain of seeing RCB go out of the tournament, to congratulate and laud Gill for his terrific ton.
