RABADA RIPS THROUGH GUJARAT BATTING TO SET UP PUNJAB WIN
PACER SNARES 4 WICKETS BEFORE BATTERS COMPLETE THE JOB
Shikhar Dhawan’s unbeaten 62 off 53 balls and Kagiso Rabada’s four-for guided Punjab Kings to a comprehensive eight-wicket win against Gujarat Titans at the Dr DY Patil Stadium yesterday. Punjab Kings comfortably chased the target of 144 with four overs to spare.
After Jonny Bairstow fell for 1 in the third over, Bhanuka Rajapaksa joined in-form opener Shikhar Dhawan and the duo forged a partnership to take the team’s total beyond the 50-run mark in 6.2 overs. Dhawan-Rajapaksa struck a fifty-run partnership in just 31 balls and Shikhar Dhawan too notch up his half-century off 38 balls. The southpaw allowed Rajapaksa to hit boundaries and sixes keeping one end tight.
The 87-run partnership was finally broken Lockie Ferguson dismissed Rajapaksa for 40 off 28 balls to reduce Punjab to 97/2. It took Punjab Kings only 12.1 overs to reach the triple-figure mark. Liam Livingstone joined Dhawan and wreaked havoc with the bat scoring a 10-ball 30 with help of two fours and three sixes.
Earlier in the day opting to bat first after winning the toss tabletoppers Gujarat Titans did not get a great start losing in-form opener Shubman Gill as he was run-out by Rishi Dhawan for 9 as Gujarat Titans lost their opening wicket for 17 in the third over.
Rabada on fire
In the next over Gujarat were dealt another blow as Kagiso Rabada got the wicket of Wriddhiman Saha for 21 off 17 balls to leave his team in a spot of bother at 35/2.
Captain Hardik Pandya walked in to bat but he got out cheaply for 1 to medium-pacer Rishi Dhawan to leave Gujarat Titans tottering at 44/3.
B Sai Sudharshan was joined by David Miller and the duo took the team beyond the 50-run mark in 8 overs. But the 23-run partnership was broken as Liam Livingstone got the danger man Miller out for 11 to reduce Gujarat to 67/4. They desperately needed a partnership and Sudharshan along with Rahul Tewatia did exactly that the duo took the team’s total beyond the triple-figure mark in 15.2 overs as Sudharshan played the role of the aggressor.
Sai Sudharshan notched up his half-century in 42 balls as he was the only batter who was able to perform with the bat.
Rabada struck again to break the 45-run partnership dismissing Tewatia for 11 and in the next ball he cleaned up Rashid Khan to a golden duck to put Gujarat in trouble at 112/6. In the next over Arshdeep Singh struck cleaning up Pradeep Sangwan for 2 as GT lost their seventh wicket for 122. In the next over Rabada took his wickets tally to four wickets in the match dismissing Lockie Ferguson for 5 to restrict Gujarat Titans to 143/8 in 20 overs.