Following Gujarat Titans' defeat in the Indian Premier League (IPL) final, captain Shubman Gill stated that a target of 180-190 runs might have resulted in a more competitive contest.

GT reached their second final in five years but were unable to secure their second trophy after their top three batters-Gill, Sai Sudharsan and Jos Buttler-fell short early on.

GT set a total of 156 runs, which the bowlers defended with determination. However, the total was insufficient, as Virat Kohli scored an unbeaten 75 off 42 balls, including nine fours and three sixes, steering Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to a successful title defence.

After the match, Gill remarked, “I think if we had gotten close to 180, 190, it would have been a good match. (On whether the surface was slow or two-paced) Honestly, not that much. You know, maybe a little bit. We have seen whenever we are playing, in the first three or four overs, there is a little bit of movement for the fast bowlers. We lost a couple of early wickets, and then we kind of lost the momentum in the middle; we could not really get going. But then we knew we were playing the finals. 150, 160, if we get a couple of early wickets in the powerplay, we are always in the game.”

Gill expressed regret over not crossing the line and stressed ongoing improvement. “The way we kept talking, kept pushing ourselves, kept challenging ourselves in different areas, and kept improving those 5 per cent factors. We could not get over the line, but there are always things that you could improve on. And even if we had won the trophy, there were still things that we felt as a group that we needed to work on,” he concluded.

Batting first, GT scored 155 for 8 in their 20 overs. Washington Sundar was the only batter to score a half-century, remaining not out on 50 from 37 balls with five fours. Nishant Sindhu contributed 20 runs off 18 balls. Regular wickets fell to Rasikh Dar Salam (3 for 27), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2 for 29) and Josh Hazlewood (2 for 37).