New Delhi (India) May 4: Gujarat Titans beat Punjab Kings by 4 wickets on Sunday in a low scoring thriller. Shubman Gill had won the toss and elected to bowl first against Shreyas Iyer's Punjab Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
Gujarat Dominates Punjab in Last Over Thriller
Suryansh Shedge smashed an impressive 57 from 29 balls as PBKS recovered from a disastrous start to score 163 for 9. Batting first, Punjab were reeling at 47/5 within the 9th over of the innings. However, Suryansh Shedge brought Punjab back with a partnership of 79 runs off 44 balls with Marcus Stoinis (40) for the 6th wicket. As soon as the pair got out, Punjab lost momentum.
For Gujarat, Jason Holder had an impressive bowling spell of 4 for 24, Kagiso Rabada (2 for 22) and Mohammed Siraj (2 for 28) took two wickets each. In the run chase, Said Sudharsan's well paced innings of 57 off 41 kept Gujarat in the chase but once they were dismissed, Punjab pulled themselves back into the game as they managed to pressure the batting side and the game was taken down to the final over. GT required 3 runs of two balls, they won with the help of Washington Sundar smashing a six to end the game.
Gujarat Move Closer in Tight Playoff Race
Punjab Kings currently stand at top of the table however, their lead is beginning to shrink and there are now four teams who share 12 points from second to fifth position. Gujarat Titans are finally beginning to find their groove at the right time along with some teams in the mid table.
GT are the only team within the top 5 who currently have a negative NRR which seems to be down to their approach of batting and problems with the middle order. If the chase for fourth position comes down to NRR, they are not in a very strong position. Though the three consecutive wins at this moment puts GT firmly in the race for the playoffs.
Gill Praises Calm Chase and Sundar’s Finish
Shubman Gill, GT captain said, “I think in chases like these, we would have liked to not take it as deep as it went but two crucial points. This is not the kind of wicket where we'll chase in 15-16 overs. So we thought maybe one over before or a couple of overs before. That was the talk. If someone is set they should go deep because it's not easy to hit from ball 1. Length balls weren't coming the way they do on other wickets. It was important for the batsman who is set. Luckily we had Washi and he finished the game for us. Just sent the best batter that we thought in that situation,” regarding the match win.
Playing Xl's: GT AND PBKS
Punjab Kings: Prabhsimran Singh(w), Priyansh Arya, Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer(c), Marcus Stoinis, Suryansh Shedge, Nehal Wadhera, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal
Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill(c), Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler(w), Washington Sundar, Nishant Sindhu, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Arshad Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Manav Suthar