Gujarat Titans returned to winning ways with an easy three-wicket win over poor Punjab Kings in the 37th match of the Indian Premier League in Mullanpur on Sunday. Spinner Sai Kishore turned hero with his maiden four-wicket haul in IPL to restrict Punjab to 142 and then Rahul Tewatia scored a match-winning 32* off just 17 balls to lead Gujarat to an important win.
A win boosted Shubman Gill-led Gujarat to sixth position in the points table with four wins in four games while Punjab Kings continue to struggle in ninth place with just two wins in the IPL 2024.
After winning the toss, Shikhar Dhawan-less Punjab elected to bat first with the same playing eleven that fell nine runs short against Mumbai Indians in the last game. Gujarat replaced struggling pacer Spencer Johnson with Afghanistan pace all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai.
Stand-in skipper Sam Curran and Prabhsimran Singh gave Punjab a strong start by adding 52 runs for the first wicket in just 33 balls. Prabhsimran showed some form by smashing 35 off just 21 balls but was not able to convert it into a big innings again.
Mohit Sharma dismissed Prabhsimran in the sixth over to give Gujarat a breakthrough and then Punjab never recovered to make a comeback throughout their innings. Spinner Harpreet Brar smashed 29 runs off just 12 balls in the closing stages to help Punjab post a defendable total of 142/10 in 20 overs. Sai Kishore picked four wickets for 33 while Noor Ahmad and Mohit Sharma bagged two each for Gujarat.
Chasing a low-score target, Gujarat lost struggling veteran Wriddhiman Saha in the fourth over. Captain Shubman Gill started well by scoring 35 runs but failed to finish the game once again. Despite being in a dominant position, Gujarat's batters struggled to finish the game early.
Punjab Kings kept the game balanced for the majority of the time with Liam Livingstone removing Gill and David Miller in quick succession. Harshal Patel dismissed Omarzai and Shahrukh Khan in the closing stages but Tewatia's 36* off just 18 balls proved enough to lead Gujarat to an easy win with five balls remaining.
Punjab Kings Playing XI: Sam Curran (c), Prabhsimran Singh (substituted by Harpreet Bhatia), Rilee Rossouw, Liam Livingstone, Shashank Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Ashutosh Sharma, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh.
Gujarat Titans Playing XI: Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Shubman Gill (c), David Miller, Azmatullah Omarzai, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Noor Ahmad, Sandeep Warrier (substituted by Sai Sudharsan), Mohit Sharma.
