Sai Kishore and Rahul Tewatia starred for the Gujarat Titans as they clinched a vital three-wicket win over the Punjab Kings in their Tata Indian Premier League clash at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur on Sunday night.
Kishore picked up top figures of 4-33 in four overs to help bowl out the hosts for 142 in 20 overs. Tewatia produced the finishing touches with an unbeaten 36 off 18 balls (7x4) to lead them home at the start of the final over of the match.
The Titans chase got off to a mixed start as they lost opener Wriddhiman Saha (13) caught by Ashutosh Sharma at deep midwicket off the bowling of Arshdeep Singh in the fourth over, but by the end of the powerplay, they were sitting in a decent position on 44 for four.
In today's Super Sunday double-header, Andre Russell won the Player of the Match Award for his all-round performance in Match 3️⃣6️⃣ 🏆
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Captain Shubman Gill, 35 off 29 balls (5x4) and Sai Sudharsan (31) were looking to bat their side into a strong position with a 41-run second-wicket partnership, but just as they were about to reach the halfway stage in charge, Gill lobbed Liam Livingstone straight to Kagiso Rabada at long-off, leaving them on 68 for two after 10 overs.
Rahul Tewatia the man again who is at the finishing line guiding them home 😎
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Gujarat Titans have come up on 🔝 in Mullanpur with a clinical performance and have settled their scores with #PBKS 🙌
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In his next over, Livingstone tossed one up and David Miller (4) completely missed his shot across the line to be castled as they slipped to 78 for three.
An action-packed 15th over then saw the back of Sudharsan, chopping Sam Curran onto his own stumps just after hitting a boundary. Another boundary from new man Tewatia took the Titans over the 100-run mark.
In the next over, Azmatullah Omarzai (13) tried to smash Harshal Patel down the ground but only got an edge to keeper Jitesh Sharma, and with the Titans on 103/5 Punjab were firmly in the game.
However, Tewatia took centre stage, dominating a 35-run stand with Shahrukh Khan (8), which included him hitting two boundaries as 13 came off Harpreet Brar’s 17th, while Rabada’s 18th saw 20 come off it as three fours from Tewatia and a six from Shahrukh got them to the brink.
Patel bowled Shahrukh with a beautiful slower ball yorker at the start of the 19th over and had Rashid Khan (3) caught by Rilee Rossouw midwicket at the end of it, but, but it was too little too late as the Tewatia clipped Arshdeep for four at the start of the final over to take them home.
PUNJAB WON THE TOSS
At the start of play, Punjab won the toss and chose to bat, but the Titans spinners were in top form, picking up seven of the 10 wickets, with Kishore, Noor Ahmad, 2-20, and Rashid, 1-15, all putting in superb four-over spells.
The Punjab innings got off to a great start thanks to a 52-run opening stand between Prabhsimran Singh, 35 off 21 balls (3x4, 3x6) and Curran (20) in the powerplay, which included Prabhsimran launching three fours and a six in the second over bowled by Sandeep Warrier that went for 21 runs.
However, in the final over of the powerplay, after cracking Mohit Sharma (2-32) over third man for six, Prabhsimran came down the wicket the next ball but only got an edge through to keeper Saha to reduce them to 52-1.
Prabhsimran’s wicket started a trend for the rest of the innings as Punjab lost all 10 of theirs for 90 runs, while their first seven fell for 47.
New man Rossouw (9) was next to fall trapped LBW by Ahmad, while Curran departed in the eighth over, also LBW to Rashid as they slipped to 67 for three.
Ahmad had Livingstone (6) caught by Tewatia in the 11th over, leaving Punjab in a spot of bother on 78 for four.
Kishore then took centre stage as he took three wickets in successive overs, bowling Jitesh (13), before having Ashutosh (3) caught on the boundary by Mohit, and then caught Shashank Singh (8) off his own bowling as they tumbled to 99 for seven in the 16th over.
PUNJAB KINGS: Rilee Roussow, Prabhsimran Singh, Sam Curran (capt), Liam Livingstone, Shashank Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Ashutosh Sharma, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh
GUJARAT TITANS: Shubman Gill (capt), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), David Miller, Azmatullah Omarzai, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Sai Kishore, Mohit Sharma, Noor Ahmad, Sandeep Warrier