IPL 2022: Punjab Kings beat Gujarat by 8 Wickets, Move to Fifth in Standings
Gujarat come into this match placed number one in the IPL standings.
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Punjab Kings beat Gujarat Titans by 8 wickets on Tuesday night in Mumbai.
Gujarat Titans: 143/8 in 20 overs (Sai Sudharsan 64 not out, Wriddhiman Saha 21; Kagiso Rabada 4/33)
Punjab Kings: 145/2 in 16 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 62 not out, Bhanuka Rajapaksalbw 40; Lockie Ferguson 1/29)
Punjab Kings have thrashed table-toppers Gujarat Titans, chasing down their 143/8 with four overs to spare in Match 48 of IPL 2022 on Tuesday night at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai.
After being put into bowl first by Hardik Pandya, Kagiso Rabada claimed an excellent four-fer (4/33) and helped Punjab Kings restrict Gujarat Titans to 143/ despite a hard-fought fifty by Sai Sudharsan (64 not out off 50).
Sudharsan, who came to bat at No 3, was the lone warrior with the bat for Gujarat, who kept losing wickets at regular intervals during their innings. After Sudharsan, Wriddhiman Saha (21 off 17) was the second-highest scorer for GT. Apart from Rabada (4/33), the likes of Rishi Dhawan (1/26), Liam Livingstone (1/15), and Arshdeep Singh (1/35) also chipped in with one wicket each for Punjab.
In reply, Shikhar Dhawan (62 not out off 53) used his experience to perfection and smashed a fine fifty. He stitched a vital partnership of 87 off 58 balls for the second wicket with Bhanuka Rajapaksalbw (40 off 28) before the Sri Lankan batter got out in the 12th over.
In the end, Shikhar and Liam Livingstone (30 off 10) remained not out and helped Punjab Kings chase down the target in 16 overs, with eight wickets in hand.
IPL Points Table after Punjab Kings beat Gujarat Titans
(Gfx: The Quint)
Punjab Put Into Bowl
For the first time this IPL 2022, a skipper won the toss and elected to bat first in an evening game and Wriddhiman Saha and Shubman Gill walked out to open for Gujarat.
In the first ball of the third over, Gill pushed the ball to cover and went for a quick single, but Liam Livingstone was sharp on the field, hitting the stumps at the non-striker's end while on the move to catch the GT opener short of his crease. Gill had a few complaints against the bowler Sandeep Sharma, seemingly accusing him of being in the way but that wasn't really the case as Sandeep stood his ground after a follow-through and was merely watching the ball.
On the other hand, Saha showed his aggressive intent right from the beginning and looked in fine touch before he was dismissed by Rabada on a cross-seam delivery, leaving Gujarat at 34-2 after 3.5 overs.
From there on, skipper Hardik Pandya and Sai Sudharsan batted cautiously and took GT to 42/2 in 6 overs. After the end of the powerplay, the Punjab skipper brought Rishi Dhawan into the attack and he got the big wicket of Hardik (1) in the sent ball of his over, putting Gujarat in trouble.
Punjab didn't take their foot off the pedal for the next three-four overs and maintained the constant pressure on Sudarshan and David Miller with disciplined bowling. With runs not coming easily for Gujarat, Miller (11) looked to release the pressure against the tossed-up delivery bowled by Livingstone but he was found by Rabada at long-off.
Though Sudharshan was struggling to find his timing for a majority of his innings, he held one end up. However, the left-hander didn't get any kind of support from the lower down batters -- Rahul Tewatia (11), Rashid Khan (0), Pradeep Sangwan (2) Lockie Ferguson (5) -- who couldn't do much.
With 129-8 after 18.2 overs, Gujarat were in a position to get bowled out but Sudarshan showed his temperament and hit a few precious boundaries, in the end, to help Gujarat Titans finish with 143/8 in 20 overs.
Apart from Rabada (4/33), the likes of Rishi Dhawan (1/26), Liam Livingstone (1/15), and Arshdeep Singh (1/35) also chipped in with one wicket each for Punjab.
Punjab's Chase
Chasing a modest target, Punjab tried a different opening combo where Jonny Bairstow replaced Mayank Agarwal alongside Shikhar Dhawan. However, Bairstow (1) fell cheaply getting a top edge against a Mohammad Shami short ball in the 3rd over of the innings.
The early wicket brought an opportunity for Gujarat while defending a small total but Shikhar Dhawan and Bhanuka Rajapaksa played counter-attacking knocks. Dhawan was ruthless with anything having a little width, and played the lofted drive to perfection during the powerplay while Rajapaksa relied a lot more on his power and managed to muscle the ball for boundaries as soon as he came in.
The duo of Dhawan and Rajapaksa (40 off 28) stitched a vital partnership of 87 off 58 balls for the second wicket before the Sri Lankan batter was trapped LBW in the 12th over.
With eight wickets in hand, Punjab had the opportunity to finish the game early and Liam Livingstone (30 off 10) did it with perfection. Livingstone smashed 6, 6, 6, 4, 2, 4 against Mohammed Shami which allowed Punjab to finish the chase inside 16 overs and give their net run rate a fillip. Mohammed Shami (1/43) and Lockie Ferguson (1/29) were the wicket-takers for Gujarat.