David Miller was at his vintage best as he put the finishing touches to a straightforward, seven-wicket victory for the Gujarat Titans in their IPL match against the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday afternoon.
The Proteas veteran needed treatment for a leg injury which made running extremely difficult, but he elected not to leave the field and moved, instead, into full boundary-hitting mode to finish unbeaten on 44 from only 27 balls.
Miller hammered four fours and two sixes to clinch victory with a comfortable five balls remaining. He finished the game in style, too, by driving the first ball of the final over from Jaydev Unadkat for a huge six over long on.
Impact player Sai Sudharsan did an excellent job with 45 from 36 balls at No 3 after a solid platform had been laid by openers Wriddhimam Saha (25 from 13 balls) and captain Shubman Gill whose 36 spanned 28 balls and contained two fours and a six
Strong opening, stronger finish 💪#AavaDe | #GTKarshe | #TATAIPL2024 | #GTvSRH pic.twitter.com/SaAzLtr1Su
— Gujarat Titans (@gujarat_titans) March 31, 2024
Earlier it was an innings of missed batting opportunities for the Sunrisers as all of the top five batsmen made promising starts but Abhishek Sharma’s 29 from 20 balls was the highest score as Afghan spinners Noor Ahmed (1-32) and Rashid Khan (1-33) kept a tight leash on the run rate in the middle overs.
Mayank Agarwal (16) miscued a bouncer from Afghan seamer Azmatullah Omarzai to deep square leg and fellow opener, Travis Head, was bowled by left arm spinner Noor’s googly for 19 from 14 balls.
Abhishek was deceived by a slower ball from seamer Mohit Sharma (3-25) and sliced a drive to cover while Heinrich Klaasen briefly flickered with two giant sixes against the spinners before Rashid bowled him with a googly for 24 from 13 balls with a four to go with the sixes.
It wasn’t Aiden Markram’s day as he scratched his way to 17 from 19 balls without a boundary before driving fast bowler Umesh Yadav to long on where Rashid held a fine, diving catch.
The home team’s score might have been improved had Abdul Samad not been stranded at the non-striker’s end unbeaten on 29 from just 14 balls (3x4, 1x6).
Both teams had a victory and a loss from their opening two matches before this match although the Sunrisers have the momentum of their record-breaking total of 277-3 and commanding, 31-run victory against the Mumbai Indians in their last match.
SUNRISERS HYDERABAD: Mayank Agarwal, Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen (wkt), Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins (captain), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, Jaydev Unadkat
GUJARAT TITANS: Wriddhiman Saha (wkt), Shubman Gill (captain), Azmatullah Omarzai, David Miller, Vijay Shankar, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Umesh Yadav, Noor Ahmad, Mohit Sharma, Darshan Nalkande