By:
Sarwar Alam
Gujarat Titans suffered solely their second IPL defeat on Tuesday as Kagiso Rabada took 4 wickets for the second match working earlier than Shikhar Dhawan’s half-century led Punjab Kings to a dominant win.
Liam Livingstone smashed three sixes to finish an eight-wicket victory with 4 overs to spare, transferring Punjab as much as fifth and stopping league leaders Gujarat from placing one foot within the playoffs.
Gujarat gained the toss and selected to bat however made simply 143 for 8 as South Africa’s Rabada produced man-of-the-match figures of 4 for 33.
Gujarat’s solely standout was Sai Sudharsan who grounded out a gutsy 65 not out, the 20-year-old’s first half-century of the IPL in solely his fourth innings.
The Titans misplaced each their openers within the energy play, with Shubman Gill spectacularly run out for 9 within the third over and Wriddhiman Saha caught by a back-pedalling Mayank Agarwal off Rabada.
Gujarat’s high scorer of the season Hardik Pandya fell for only one, failing to maneuver his toes and thick-edging Rishi Dhawan to keeper Jitesh Sharma as he regarded to drive.
David Miller tried to get the scoreboard transferring, however misjudged Livingstone’s offspin to offer Rabada a easy catch on the long-on boundary, departing for 11.
Rahul Tewatia, usually the hazard man on the finish of an innings, additionally was out for 11, making an attempt to reverse-sweep a large, gradual Rabada ball.
Subsequent ball Rashid Khan edged Rabada to the keeper for a golden duck, and Lockie Ferguson slogged Rabada straight to Livingstone at long-on.
Punjab’s Jonny Bairstow, promoted to quantity two, departed for one within the third over, top-edging Mohammed Shami to Pradeep Sangwan at deep fine-leg.
However fellow opener Dhawan and Sri Lankan quantity three Bhanuka Rajapaksa made fast work of the modest goal off Shami, Khan and West Indies pacer Alzarri Joseph.
Rajapaksa hit 5 fours and a six to make 40 off 28 balls earlier than being trapped leg-before by New Zealand’s Ferguson within the twelfth over.
Dhawan’s 62 not out off 53 included eight fours and one six — a ramped shot off a lightning-fast Joseph supply that was the quickest of the evening.
Livingstone then wrapped issues up in a single Shami over with three sixes in a row — one among which flew 117 metres — and two fours to complete not out 30 off 10 balls.
“I didn’t assume I used to be going to bat at one level tonight so it was good to go in and hit just a few out of the center,” Livingstone stated.
“I believed Shikhar performed fantastically to set it up, him and Bhanu (Rajapaksa)… It’s an enormous win.”
