Far from the hue and cry of the high-scoring thrillers that have dominated the 2024 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Gujarat Titans (GT) on Sunday (Apr 21) played a slow-burner of a game that went down to the wire at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur.
Ultimately, it took some intelligent batting from the GT lower-order batters to walk away with a well-fought three-wicket win. Rahul Tewatia and former PBKS batter Shahrukh Khan combined at the death to engineer a crafty 35-run partnership to see the chase through.
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The chase would seem sweeter as it came after GT were humbled at their home by Delhi Capitals, just a few days back. The Titans were folded on a paltry score of 89 as DC chased it within 10 overs.
As for the hosts, the Kings were in the chase, up until the 18th over where Kagiso Rabada went for 20 runs, as Sam Curran’s inexperience with the captain’s armband showed. Harshal Patel did attempt to spice things up with two wickets in the penultimate over but GT kept their cool.
Kings crumble in the first innings
Having opted to bat first, PBKS were off to a more than decent start, courtesy of Sam Curran (20) and Prabhsimran Singh (35). The duo completed a fifty-run stand in the sixth over before Mohit Sharma drew the first blood and sent Prabhsimran packing as Wriddhiman Saha snaffled a smart catch.
Riley Rossouw’s miserable return with the bat continued as Noor Ahmad trapped him in front of the stumps. The other Afghan, Rashid Khan, joined the party and similarly caught Curran plumb. On both occasions, the on-field decision was not out and GT had to go upstairs to have them reversed.
Sai Kishore was the star with the ball for GT as he took a brilliant four-fer whilst conceding only 33 runs in his quota of four overs.
Mohit Sharma also chipped in with a couple of wickets, ensuring that PBKS finished with an under-par total on what was a sluggish track.
The win has catapulted GT to sixth spot on the table, just behind Chennai Super Kings and Luck Super Giants, albeit, they both have a game in hand.
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