Indian Premier League new entrants Gujarat Titans suffered a rare setback as they were subjected to only their second loss of the season at the hands of the Punjab Kings. The law of averages finally caught up to Hardik Pandya’s men.
The encounter against Punjab presented a complete and total failure from the Titans, who were outplayed comprehensively across all departments, except for a fine innings from the young Sai Sudharsan, who gave glimpses of his outstanding talent.
The Punjab bowlers restricted the Titans to a massively under-par total of 143 before their batsman knocked off the runs with ease. Shikhar Dhawan, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, and Liam Livingstone all came good, and the Kings also managed to get onto 10 points, heating up the battle for qualification.
Pandya won the toss for the Titans and decided to bat first at the DY Patil Stadium, a surprising decision considering the kind of success that teams have had while chasing. The decision ultimately proved to be an ill-fated one, backfiring almost immediately. Punjab speedster Kagiso Rabada put the screws to the Gujarat batsman, who were reduced to 44/3 in six overs, including the wicket of Hardik, who had played several good knocks this season.
The Titans went 46 balls without scoring a boundary, as David Miller and Sai Sudharsan struggled to put the innings together. The South African departed after an unsuccessful mission, while the Tamil Nadu player stayed on. There wasn’t much that Rahul Tewatia could do either, scoring a 13-ball 11 before a series of wickets fell at regular intervals.
Sudharsan did his best to try and take his side to a defendable total, but the fall of wickets at the other end was proving too much for the 20-year-old. However, he did manage to fight till the end, finishing on 65* in 50 deliveries. The Titans put up 143/8 on the scoreboard, by no means a daunting target.
Punjab skipper Mayank Agarwal decided to change things up a bit, dropping himself down the order, as Jonny Bairstow and the veteran Dhawan walked out to bat. However, the experiment was not very successful. Bairstow walked back for a six-ball 1. Bhanuka Rajapaksa then joined Dhawan in the middle.
The duo batted fluently without much fuss to take the game away from the Titans. The two put on 87 for the second wicket, by which time the game was firmly out of the reach of GT. Rajapaksa was dismissed by Lockie Ferguson for 40, but the damage had already been done.
Livingstone arrived as the finisher with not much work to do, as the Titans had more or less resigned to their fate. Nevertheless, he played a short blitzkrieg, scoring an unbeaten 32 in just 10 balls to take PBKS home by eight wickets with four overs to spare.
The win also puts Punjab on 10 points, along with Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad. The Titans will remain atop of the points table and won’t take much to heart from this loss. Nonetheless, with the playoffs fast approaching, it will be interesting to see how the playoff equation plays out.
Brief scores
Punjab Kings 145/2 (Dhawan 62*; Rajapaksa 40; Ferguson 1/29) beat Gujarat Titans 143/8(Sudharsan 65*; Saha 21; Rabada 4/33)
