Faith over fear: words that the Gujarat Titans would live by, as the Shubman Gill-led side mustered their way to a surprisingly gruelling three-wicket win over Punjab Kings in Mullanpur today.
The star of the show was none other than long-time slugger Rahul Tewatia, who came in with the bat and took Gujarat over the hump with his innings of 36* in 18 balls, peppered with 7 fours, as the side wrapped up their 4th win of the season.
Punjab got off to a seemingly dreamy start, with the likes of Prabhsimran taking on the GT bowlers with ease, and Curran supporting him alongside, as the duo notched up the fifty in five overs.
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But then, disaster struck as Mohit Sharma scalped Prabhsimran, sparking a domino effect of wickets tumbling for Punjab, as Afghan spinsters Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad came in to weave more trouble for PBKS, scalping three wickets in quick succession, pushing Punjab to a desperate 78-4 within 11 overs, as the top-order crumbled.
This would merely be the beginning of the end for Punjab though as Sai Kishore entered the bowling attack to consistently turn the tide around in Gujarat’s favour with his spin, anytime PBKS tried to hoist a fight.
A battered and bitter Punjab were finally taken over the hump by the duo of Harpreet Singh and Harpreet Brar, who instilled some fight in the Punjab batting ranks with some quick boundaries.
But, it was not meant to be as Mohit Sharma came in at the death to finish what he started, scaping the remaining 2 wickets and bowling out Punjab for a meagre 142 runs in 20 overs.
Gujarat started off quite safely, ticking off the runs at a quiet and patient rate. But Punjab drew first blood soon, scalping Wriddhiman Saha. This inspired skipper Gill to amp up the pace and take the attack to the Punjab bowlers.
It was then PBKS’ Liam Livingstone, who swung the momentum again, scalping Gill and hard-hitter David Miller as he finished his stellar spell with figures of 2/19.
The momentum shift he provided though persisted, as Punjab struck in timely intervals, removing set batters such as the likes of Sai Sudarshan and Omarzai as well, to consistently maintain the pressure on GT.
When it all seemed a little too close for comfort, GT’s Rahul Tewatia stepped up, slicing and dicing the ball to the boundary, as the slugger went on the counter-attack against the Punjab bowlers to score timely boundaries and keep the hosts away at an arm’s length.
Tewatia would go on to continue the onslaught though, especially in the 18th over, as the slugger, with some aide from batter Shahrukh Khan, would hammer Protean pacer, Kagiso Rabada for 20 runs, bringing down the total to 5 runs off the last two overs,
A bit of late drama ensued as Punjab counter-punched back at GT removing both Shahrukh and Rashid Khan in consecutive over, but regardless GT still cruised through to secure their 4th win of the season so far, as they move on up to 6th place, right ahead of Mumbai Indians.
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