The defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT) are set to take on five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI) in Qualifier 2 of IPL 2023 at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Friday, May 26.
The Chennai Super Kings await the winner, having defeated the Titans in Qualifier 1 in Chennai, in the final, which will be played at the same venue on Sunday.
On the day before Qualifier 2, fans in Ahmedabad were packed outside the Stadium to collect tickets for the final and Qualifier 2.
The situation turned ugly as there was no ticket management system in place, leading to some fans creating disorder by rushing toward the entrance of the stadium to buy tickets.
Despite the BCCI partnering with PayTm for online tickets, the rule warrants the spectators to collect the physical copy of their tickets from the Stadium, leading to such an unwarranted situation.
The Narendra Modi Stadium is the largest in the world, with a seating capacity of 132,000 spectators.
Here is a video of the chaos caused by ticket mismanagement outside the Narendra Modi Stadium:
On the field of play, Hardik Pandya and his men are set to take on the in-form Mumbai Indians in a potential humdinger for the right to qualify for the final.
While GT lost in Qualifier 1 to CSK by 15 runs in Chennai, MI annihilated the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by 81 runs in the Eliminator.
The two teams faced off twice against each other in the league stage, with each winning convincingly at their respective home arena.
“He loves spending time with uncapped players” – Harbhajan Singh praises MI skipper Rohit Sharma ahead of Qualifier 2
Former Mumbai Indians off-spinner Harbhajan Singh lauded Rohit Sharma for backing youngsters throughout the season. The former India cricketer pointed out that this helped the franchise avoid numerous injuries to star players.
Despite not having pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah throughout the season and English sensation Jofra Archer for most of the season, MI finished in the top four in the points table. The five-time champion then defeated LSG in the Eliminator.
Speaking to Star Sports, the 42-year-old said:
“Rohit Sharma is a very chilled-out captain. He is a very approachable captain even for the youngsters. He never carries that ego and youngsters can reach out to him anytime. He loves spending time with uncapped players. He’s someone who hasn’t taken success to his head, he’s very humble and shows a lot of respect to the senior players. This humility makes Rohit a great player.”
MI has unleashed IPL debutants like Nehal Wadhera and Akash Madhwal during the season. The pair have been instrumental in the team advancing to the final leg of the competition.
Wadhera has scored 237 runs in 13 games at an average of 29.63 and a strike rate of 145.40. Madhwal, on the other hand, has been the talk of the town, picking up 13 wickets in seven matches, including a five-wicket haul in the Eliminator.