Pandya, Ferguson guide Titans to top of standings

Gujarat skipper smashes an unbeaten 87 off 52 while pacer scalps three crucial wickets in win vs RR

NAVI MUMBAI: The pivotal moment came in the last delivery of Rajasthan Royals’ Powerplay. As always, Jos Buttler was off the blocks in a jiffy and had scooped Lockie Ferguson for a maximum one ball before to bring up his half-century in just 23 deliveries.

It looked like the Gujarat Titans had no answer to Buttler’s assault but as the Englishman took guard to tee off again, Ferguson produced one of the deliveries of this edition—a slow leg-cutter yorker that came out perfectly from his hand, caught Buttler off guard and before he knew, it had disturbed the timber. One day before, Jasprit Bumrah had produced a peach of a yorker to dismiss Liam Livingstone of Punjab Kings.

In the first ball of that Ferguson over, David Miller had taken a brilliant catch at short cover to dismiss R Ashwin (8, 8b), who was promoted up the order.

That Buttler dismissal changed the course of the match as Titans gained confidence and tightened their grip by taking wickets at regular intervals to record a comprehensive 37-run win at the DY Patil Stadium on Thursday. It was their fourth win in five matches and it propelled them to top of the standings with eight points.

Nine balls after that Ferguson scorcher, Titans’ skipper Hardik Pandya effected a brilliant run out—from mid-off which broke the middle stump—to dismiss his counterpart Sanju Samson (11, 11b). It further crushed Royals’ morale and they never recovered.

Shimron Hetmyer (29, 17b) looked to take the match away from Titans but toe-ended a Mohamed Shami (1/39) delivery to long-on and Riyan Parag (18, 16b) hit a full toss from Ferguson (3/23) straight to Shubman Gill at deep mid-wicket which killed Royals’ hopes of mounting a comeback.

While Ferguson did the star turn with the ball, earlier, it was skipper Pandya’s (87, 52b) turn to lead from the front. It looked like Titans were on course for another tame batting display for the second time in a row as early dismissals meant they could reach just 73/3 after 10 overs.

Then, Pandya changed the course of the match. Coming in at No 4, Pandya with the help of Abhinav Manohar (42, 28b), stitched a 55-ball 86 run stand for the fourth wicket to bring Titans back in contention.

Pandya then shared a 53-run partnership off 25 balls for the fifth wicket to finish the Titans innings on a high. They scored 119 in the last 10 overs to post a mammoth total of 192.

Pandya didn’t look like the player burdened by the pressures of captaincy and kept pulling off those big shots. It was also the first time in this edition that his strike rate was well above 150.

That Pandya the all-rounder is regaining his touch is a good sign for India ahead of the T20 World Cup. It was his second half-century on the trot and second highest score in the IPL history. “The way Buttler was batting, there’s not a lot you can do. He lapped me (for six) off the first ball and I had to do something different,” said Ferguson. “It came out well and loved seeing the stumps light up. Throughout the IPL, there are many who can get on top like him. Not much you can do to get on top. Nice to see the back of him for sure. We’ve got a lot of experience. Rashid has bowled well for so long.”

Brief scores: GT 192/4 (H Pandya 87*, A Manohar 43). RR 155/9 (J Buttler 54, S Hetmyer

29; Yash Dayal 3/40, Lockie Ferguson 3/23).

BCCI Hardik Pandya was named Played of the Match on Thursday.