IPL 2022: Wriddhiman Saha, Tewatia-Rashid Help Gujarat Win Thriller vs SRH
Umran Malik finished with 5/25, picking his first 5-wicket haul. It's the best figures in IPL so far this season.
Rashid Khan and Rahul Tewatia played a brilliant hand in Gujarat Titans' win against SRH
Image: BCCI
Rashid Khan and Rahul Tewatia put on a match-winning partnership of 59 unbeaten in the final stages of the innings to help the Gujarat Titans defeat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 5 wickets. in Mumbai in IPL 2022.
Gujarat, who go to the top of the points table with the win, were in trouble after Umran Malik picked five wickets to rock the opposition batting with his pace.
And while it was Tewatia and Rashid who finished things off with a late assault, Gujarat had none other than Wriddhiman Saha to thank, after he set them off on the chase with a sublime 68 off 38 deliveries.
SRH had posted 195/6 in their innings, while Gujarat chased it down in some style.
Batting first, the Sunrisers Hyderabad did not have the best start even though Abhishek Sharma was going great guns at his end. Captain Kane Williamson could not deal with Mohammed Shami, and saw his stumps knocked over for 5.
Sharma and Rahul Tripathi then added 18 runs before Shami struck again. The pacer dismissed Tripathi for 16 as Gujarat took a review and had the decision go in their favour.
Sharma was then joined by Aiden Markram, but the southpaw wasn’t slowing down, picking off a couple of boundaries of Alzarri Joseph, to finish the powerplay with the score on 53/2.
The young opener continued to play with great confidence as Markram settled in at the other end, neither looking particularly troubled in the middle. Sharma was taking on his old colleague Rashid Khan with great elan, lofting him over long on boundary for a six. The second time Sharma did that to Rashid, it got him his half-century off 33 deliveries, with SRH motoring along by now.
Markram meanwhile had just started to get going and SRH were at 112/2 after 12 overs, all set for a good solid finish. Markram and Sharma continued in their merry ways, causing a fair amount of concern for Gujarat, putting on 96 runs from 61 balls.
And just as the batters were looking to accelerate a little more, Alzarri Joseph castled Sharma for 66 off 42 deliveries. Wicket-keeper batter Nicholas Pooran added 3 to the cause and became Shami’s third wicket.
Aiden Markram and Abhishek Sharma put on a 96-run stand against Gujarat
Soon after, Markram smashed Shami for a six and brought up his fifty in the 17th over, as the ace pacer finished with 3/39. The South African though departed in the 18th, looking to clear the ropes, and was caught by David Miller of Yash Dayal with 56.
The returning Washington Sundar too fell cheaply, run out for 3 as SRH lost the early momentum from the Markram-Sharma stand. Marco Jansen and Shashank Singh threw their bats at almost everything in the final couple of overs with the duo clobbering 25 runs off the final over of Lockie Ferguson. Singh (25 not out from 6 balls) hit 6 sixes on the bounce to end the innings as SRH got 195/6.
In response, Wriddhiman Saha and Shubman Gill set Gujarat off to a flyer, scoring at good clip. The veteran wicket-keeper batter was the more aggressive of the openers, flaying the bowlers all parts of the grounds and improvising well to find the gaps as well.
Gill, who has been in good touch in the tournament, however could not get going as per his usual free-flowing self. The openers not only scored quickly but also gave SRH quite a bit to think about, as they ended the powerplay with 59/0 on the board.
The duo added 10 more before the fast and furious Umran Malik found the breakthrough, cleaning up Gill for 22 off 24 deliveries. Malik then welcomed Hardik with a well directed bouncer that caught the batter on the shoulder, before dismissing him in the 10th over for 10 of 6 deliveries.
Umran Malik dismisses Wriddhiman Saha.
Saha at the other end though could not put a foot wrong and was marching along, driving the Gujarat chase. The wicket-keeper batter brought up his half-century of 28 deliveries, and then went through the gears, taking Marco Jansen and Washington Sundar to the cleaners, as Gujarat kept up with the required run-rate.
Saha had David Miller for company in the middle overs after Hardik’s dismissal, and continued to score at good pace, even as the South African settled in. Saha though could not get through the fast spell from Malik, becoming his third wicket of the day, when the stumps for knocked over with a delivery that was 153 kmph. Saha was dismissed for 68 off 38 deliveries, having hit 11 fours and 1 six in the knock.
In the final five overs, with Miller and Rahul Tewatia in the middle, Gujarat needed 61 to win the contest.
Young and fast, Malik came back for his final over in the 16th and cleaned up Miller for 17 and then Abhinav Manohar for a first ball-duck to finish with his first five-wicket haul. Umran Malik completed his spell with figures of 5/25, to derail the Gujarat batting effort.
Rahul Tewatia had his task cut, yet again he needed to help his team over the line from a very difficult situation, and he had Rashid Khan for company, who can not only swing his bat a bit but had a bad day with the ball and would surely want to make up for that.
Tewatia, as expected, was giving it the heave-ho in the final couple of overs, scoring 25 off 2 overs to bring it down to 22 runs needed off the final 6 deliveries. Rashid, at the other end, was more than happy to hand strike over to the left-hander.
Tewatia continued in his merry ways, smoking Jansen away for a six of the first delivery of the final over, and then Rashid joined the party with a six of his own as well. Gujarat needed 9 more off 3 and Rashid knocked 6 more off it with one ball to go, setting up a grandstand finish at the iconic stadium.
And Rashid Khan finished it off with a last ball six as the Gujarat Titans won by 5 wickets. And Rashid Khan finished it off with a last ball six as the Gujarat Titans won by 5 wickets. Rashid remained unbeaten on 31 off 11 balls while Tewatia was 40 not out of 21 deliveries. The duo hit four sixes in the final over to clinch the contest.
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