Tewatia’s last-ball six powers Titans to win
Opener Gill’s 96 keeps Gujarat in hunt before Tewatia hits sixes off the final two balls against Punjab
MUMBAI: Why did Gujarat Titans break the bank for Rahul Tewatia? Because he can win matches out of nowhere. Not just once in that Sharjah night of 2020. Not just twice, like he managed earlier in the tournament. The Haryana allrounder did it again on Friday at the Brabourne stadium against Punjab Kings, smashing Odean Smith for two consecutive sixes off the last two balls to meet the exact equation GT needed to win.
Before Tewatia’s heroics, it was a battle between two contrasting batting methods at the Brabourne. At the end, Gujarat Titans pulled off a six-wicket victory through calculated oldfashioned stroke-play, led by Shubman Gill’s ice-cool 96 (59).
Early into the GT’S run-chase of 190, the sound restrictions in Mumbai meant the music and the chorus-leading announcer had called it a day. The stage was set for Shubman Gill to make his bat heard and what a beautiful sound it made. No ugly hoicks, only cuts, drives and glances from the sweetspot of his bat and Gill’s 6 boundaries had dominated the powerplay proceedings.
Gill continued to get on top of the Brabourne bounce, bringing up his 50 in the ninth over. Punishing Rahul Chahar every time he erred in length, swatting Arshdeep Singh away to remind him of his lack of pace when he tried the short ball, Gill was bossing proceedings as if to tell PBKS, when you have class, you can score 10-anover even with conventional stroke-play. Having found a suitable ally in Tnpl-find Sai Sudarsan, Gill never looked hurried at the crease.
GT were not threatening to take the match away at any stage, but such risk-free commanding batting was slowly sucking the fight off PBKS bowling group. Chahar finally got Sudarshan to play a cross batted swipe in the 15th over to be out caught for 35 (30) and PBKS started pulling things back.
Punjab could not begin their innings in overdrive mode, with several PBKS batters yet to align to their no-holds barred approach. Captain Mayank Agarwal and Jonny Bairstow in his first outing of the season struggled to middle their hits. Hardik Pandya, continuing with his bowling resurgence, took the new ball to send Agarwal 5 (9) back. PBKS missed Bhanuka Rajapaksa’s early intent as Lockie Ferguson cut short Bairstow’s innings for 8.
GT could have struck Punjab a body blow had Pandya’s foot not kissed the boundary ropes while attempting a catch in the deep to close Liam Livingstone’s innings on 14 in the ninth over, off Rashid Khan. Dropping Livingstone any day, certainly not on current form, can prove costly. GT dropped him twice and the English power-hitter picked his bowlers to target. He took on young Darshan Nalkande for 27 runs in his first 2 overs, then deposited Tewatia for 3 sixes in a 24-run 13th over.
Shah Rukh Khan was looking good after hitting Mohammed Shami for two sixes but ended up gifting Rashid Khan his third wicket with a cross batted swipe, the seventh of the innings in the 16th over. Rashid Khan ended Livingstone’s 27-ball 64-run (7x4, 4x6) blitz to finish with 3-22.
Brief scores: Punjab Kings 189/9 in 20 overs (L Livingstone 64, S Dhawan 35; R Khan 3/22, D Nalkande 2/37). Gujarat Titans 190/4 in 20 overs (S Gill 96, S Sudarshan 35; K Rabada 2/35, R Chahar 1/41).