Mumbai: Gujarat Titans defeated Punjab Kings by six wickets in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Friday, thanks to opener Shubman Gill’s 96-run knock and Rahul Tewatia’s swashbuckling innings. Gujarat needed 19 runs in the last over. Hardik Pandya (27 off 18 balls) was run out and the team needed 12 runs in the last two balls. Tewatia (13 not out in three balls) hit Odion Smith for sixes at deep midwicket and long on as Gujarat registered their third successive win at 190 for four.
Gill scored 96 runs in 59 balls with the help of 11 fours and a six. He shared 101 runs for the second wicket with Sai Sudarshan (35 runs in 30 balls, four fours, one six). Punjab made 189 for nine when invited to bat first. Liam Livingstone scored 64 runs in 27 balls which included seven fours and four sixes. Apart from them, Shikhar Dhawan (35 runs in 30 balls, four fours) and number nine batsman Rahul Chahar (22 not out off 14 balls, two fours and one six) and number 11 batsman Arshdeep Singh (10 not out off five balls) made useful contributions. gave.
Most of the Punjab batsmen lost their wickets while trying to play long shots. For Gujarat, star leg-spinner Rashid took three for 22 while pacer Darshan Nalkande, playing his first match, took two for 37. This is Punjab’s second defeat in four matches. Gill took the initiative to score runs for Gujarat from the very first over. He presented the best view of his cut, pull, drive. On his shot sticking to the ground, the ball would have reached the boundary line with pain. Meanwhile, he also hit a visible six off Smith’s short pitch ball.
Smith also left Gill’s catch on his ball and this batsman took advantage of this and completed his half-century in just 29 balls. He soon surpassed his previous highest score (84 runs), but failed to score the first century of his career. Matthew Wade could only manage six runs but Dan Sai Sudarshan of the Tamil Nadu Premier League showed his prowess to play the long shot. Be it a six on Rahul Chahar or a four on Kagiso Rabada (2 for 35), every shot was reliable. Chahar’s googly, however, did not allow him to play a long innings.
When Gujarat needed 37 runs from 18 balls, Arshdeep Singh (4 overs 31) conceded only five runs in front of Gill and Pandya. Pandya hit two consecutive fours on Rabada but the South African bowler did not allow Gill to complete the century. Smith had to defend 19 runs in the last over but Tewatia did not allow him to become a star. Earlier, nothing was favorable for Punjab Kings in the beginning. They first lost the toss and then lost the wickets of captain Mayank Agarwal (five) and debutant Jonny Bairstow (eight) from this franchise in the powerplay itself.
Agarwal, who was struggling to score runs after taking over the captaincy of Punjab, gave a simple catch to Hardik Pandya’s short pitch ball at midwicket. Bairstow also could not hit a controlled shot on the short pitch ball of Lockie Ferguson. After the powerplay, the score was 43 for two. The turning point of the match came when Pandya caught Livingstone on the boundary line but his foot touched the boundary line in the meantime. Livingstone celebrated it with the second six off Nalakande.
Though Rashid ended his half-century partnership with Livingstone by getting Dhawan caught behind the wicket, Jitesh Sharma (23 off 11 balls), who came in to replace him, showed his aggressiveness by hitting Rahul Tewatia for two consecutive sixes. Livingstone completed his half-century in 21 balls by sending the last ball of the same over for six runs.
However, in the next over, Nalakande got Jitesh and new batsman Odion Smith (nil) caught by Gill in successive deliveries. This gave Shah Rukh an opportunity to land at the crease, who hit two consecutive sixes on Mohammed Shami. Rashid returned the joy to the Gujarat camp by dismissing Livingstone and Shah Rukh before the death overs. This left Punjab with no specialist batsmen for the last four overs but Rahul Chahar hit some decent shots, including a six in the last over of Pandya’s innings.