In an exhilarating IPL clash at Mullanpur, the Gujarat Titans emerged victorious by three wickets against the Punjab Kings. Despite some tense moments during their chase, Gujarat’s triumph was sealed by a remarkable partnership between Shahrukh Khan and Rahul Tewatia, signaling their return to winning form.

The Punjab Kings, facing a string of defeats, struggled to find their rhythm, especially in the middle overs, which ultimately cost them dearly. With their batting woes persisting, Punjab endured their fourth consecutive home defeat, relegating them to the bottom of the league table.

Gill shines with his captaincy

Spinners played a pivotal role in the match, wreaking havoc on Punjab’s batting lineup and restricting them to a modest total of 142 all out in 20 overs. This set a relatively achievable target of 143 runs for Gujarat, who capitalized on the spin-friendly conditions.

Opting to bat first after winning the toss, Punjab Kings were without their captain Shikhar Dhawan due to injury. Despite some early boundaries from Gill and Saha, Punjab lost crucial wickets at regular intervals, with Livingstone accounting for key dismissals.

Sai Kishore makes the magic

Sai Kishore showcased his bowling prowess as he dismantled the Punjab Kings’ batting lineup with a flurry of wickets. His relentless accuracy and spin variations saw him send Jitesh Sharma and Ashutosh Sharma back to the pavilion, leaving Punjab struggling at 86/5 after 11.4 overs and 92/6 after 13.5 overs respectively. Despite Shahrukh Khan initially seeming to have trapped Harpreet Singh LBW, a successful DRS review overturned the decision, offering Punjab a lifeline. However, Sai Kishore continued his dominance, dismissing Shashank Singh at 99/7 after 15.2 overs and later claiming the wicket of Harpreet Brar at 139/8 after 18.6 overs. Sai Kishore’s stellar performance played a crucial role in restricting Punjab Kings to a modest total.

Rahul Tewatia gives match winning performance

In the second innings, Gujarat Titans encountered some early setbacks but managed to steady their innings with contributions from various batsmen. However, it was Shahrukh Khan’s departure that added some tension to the chase. Yet, with determined efforts from their lower order, Gujarat Titans chased down the target with just five balls to spare, securing a much-needed victory.

Rahul Tewatia’s match-winning performance in the final stages ensures Gujarat Titans clinch a dramatic victory over Punjab Kings, marking a memorable comeback for the team.

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This thrilling encounter showcased the resilience and determination of both teams, but it was Gujarat Titans who emerged triumphant, marking a significant turnaround in their IPL campaign.

IPL 2023, 18th Match: Gujarat Titans 154 for 4 (Gill 67, Saha 30, Brar 1-20) beat Punjab Kings 153 for 8 (Short 36, Jitesh 25, Mohit 2-18) by six wickets

Another last-over thriller occurs every day. However, compared to some of the earlier games IPL 2023 has witnessed, this one was not as chaotic. However, it still required the assistance of the iceman Rahul Tewatia. Tewatia calmly scooped Sam Curran, who was bowling extremely well, over fine leg with four balls remaining, ensuring that Gujarat Titans defeated Punjab Kings by six wickets.

The pursuit appeared to be straightforward for a long time. Having limited Lords to 153 for 8 with an overall show from the bowlers on a respectable Mohali surface, Titans were cruising, driven by a tasteful 49-ball 67 from Shubman Gill.

However, with 13 required off 12, Arshdeep Singh bowled a nerveless sixth over that ended with just six runs. Curran then bowled an inch-perfect yorker that almost led to David Miller’s run-out after cleaning up Gill’s second ball of the final over. Despite everything, Tewatia prevailed by maintaining his cool, as he always does.

Kings’ batting plans go awry

Prabhsimran Singh calmly clipped a harmless Mohamad Shami back-of-a-length ball to short midwicket after Kings were sent to bat. This was Singh’s second consecutive duck. The Kings’ star batsman, Shikhar Dhawan, skied Josh Little to mid-on, resulting in his 8-run loss. Matthew Short, on the other hand, immediately impressed. He kicked off two fresh fours. Lords dashed to 52 for 2 in the powerplay, however when Short tumbled to a Rashid Khan googly, the innings unwound.

Bhanuka Rajapaksa oversaw 20 off 26 balls, Jitesh Sharma 25 off 23, while Curran scored a run-a-ball 22. Kings suffer the most from the dots. Indeed, even in the powerplay where they pulled out all the stops, there were 20 balls which the hitters neglected to score off, while in the center overs – 7 to 16 – there were 28 spot balls. In contrast, Titans only faced 18 dots in the middle phase and 12 dots in the first six overs.

Shahrukh Khan, ranked No. 7 hit a 9-ball 22 to push Kings over the 150-point mark, but it was never enough.

Mohit turns back the clock

Mohit Sharma hasn’t had the best experience with it. He had a good start in the IPL, won a purple cap in 2014, and even made it to the national team. However, his fortunes began to decline quickly. Mohit played one IPL game for Delhi Capitals in 2020, prior to this match. He was a net bowler for Titans last year, his work provoking the establishment to offer for him in 2023. He also delivered an excellent debut to repay the faith. Mohit bowled overs 11, 13, 15 and 19, yielded 18 runs and got two key wickets. The variations were back, and the most important thing was that he had control over them again, something that had been missing for a few years.

Shubman Gill lights up the chase

Titans’ pursuit got off to an ideal beginning kindness Gill and Wriddhiman Saha. With a lovely cover drive from Arshdeep, Gill was up and away, clipping Kagiso Rabada through the middle. Before he laid into Arshdeep and creamed him for four fours in the third over, Saha got his boundary counter going with a stylish cover drive off Rabada. This helped Titans get to 36 for 0 after three overs. While Rabada asserted Saha’s wicket – his 100th in the IPL – Titans scored 56 runs in the powerplay. Kings needed to improve their use of the new ball, especially considering that they could only defend 153.

After that, Gill and Sai Sudharsan added 41 runs for the second wicket in 40 balls, focusing more on singles than boundaries. Before Gill scored his second IPL fifty with a lofted four over extra cover, Hardik Pandya came and went. The opening shot, an 81-meter six from Rabada, stood out as the contest went on. He also combined with Miller to score 42 runs off 30 balls, but his dismissal in the final out broke the game open—at least until Tewatia ended it.

Impact Player Strategy

Kings brought in Rahul Chahar in place of Rajapaksa at the conclusion of their first innings, whereas Titans did not use their impact player. Chahar neglected to make a big deal about an effect, going for 24 runs in his three overs and neglecting to pick a wicket.

In a game of two sides with different approaches, Rahul Tewatia provided a wonderful finish. The Gujarat Titans come into the IPL as a side full of bowling options but very little batting options, just enough to make it work in the tournament. PBKS are full of strength. They keep going after the bowlers despite losing wickets and are often in a situation of hit or bust. Last night, they risked failure as they had a middle order collapse. Had it not been for a ninth-wicket partnership, they would have ended well below the 170-175 mark.

From PBKS’s point of view, their mistakes seemed obvious at some stage. With Rashid Khan bowling out in the 16^th over, instead of milking him and making merry in the last three overs, their batters decided to go after Rashid Khan. Rashid Khan is a dangerous bowler when batters take him on and this time he showed why as he picked up two wickets to break the back of PBKS. The move costed them a good twenty runs. While PBKS optimized the middle overs nicely, they struggled to close out the  innings.

Gujarat Titans showed their own style as the innings went on. Their bowlers were taken for runs but continued to look for wickets, taking wickets at regular intervals. Wickets before the death helped them apply pressure and made things easier for them. They have a handful of talented wicket-takers with Mohammad Shami, Lockie Ferguson and Rashid Khan in the side. In those three, Gujarat Titans have a bowling attack with bowlers who can carry a side on their own.

While batting, Shubman Gill brought his own style of play into the game. With 190 to chase, the required run-rate looked threatening. Gill however showed that steep chases can be achieved through timing and running between the wickets. He shifted gears smoothly and found an able partner in Sudarshan as both players were cruising to the target. Some good overs in the middle put the pressure back on them as both were not able to adapt to the style of hitting big.

While Titans looked to build a chase around Gill, their ideology seemed to be failing. The required rate kept climbing in the death and Hardik Pandya was run-out in the final over in a moment that almost sealed the game for PBKS. Up until the last few balls it looked like the team which looked for big hits was beating the team that depended on bowling might.

Fate however didn’t have it that way. Rahul Tewatia had his own statements to make. With twelve to get off two, Rahul Tewatia had another PBKS and Caribbean bowler in his sights. He stole the game from PBKS and helped show that bowling might with some lusty finishers is more than enough to win games and to win consistently as GT march unbeaten.

In the last two balls, Rahul Tewatia found the meat of the bat, and while one six just cleared the fence, the other went a long way as Rahul Tewatia predicted Odean Smith to go outside off. The prediction allowed him to move across and swipe with ease. While Rahul Tewatia did provide a grandstand finish, a remembrance must be given to a mistake made by Odean Smith which shows that a T20 game can be decided based on small details.

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With 13 to get off three, David Miller mistimed a ball back to the yorker. The batters didn’t run but Odean Smith had a shy at the bowlers end, missed and conceded an overthrow to get Rahul Tewatia on strike. The overthrow turned out to be a crucial point as Rahul Tewatia finished another heroic finish. He brought back shades of his 2020 form when Rahul Tewatia hit five sixes against PBKS’s Sheldon Cottrell and steered RR to a win from a challenging position against SRH in the same season. With those two finishes, Rahul Tewatia has shown that he can move his game around and hit the big blows when needed.

Two teams with different styles took each other on, and in the end, it was Rahul Tewatia who had the final say. A clash in ideologies never ends and there will be more going forward but for now it looks like the side with stronger bowlers and all-rounders has the upper-hand.

Rahul Tewatia smashed a couple of sixes off the last two deliveries after the talented Shubman Gill’s magnificent 96 off just 59 balls as Gujarat Titans pulled off a dramatic six-wicket win over Punjab Kings in their IPL match on Friday. Chasing 190 for a win, Gill was out in the 19th over after hitting 11 fours and a six, followed by his captain Hardik Pandya (27) in the final over as the Titans needed 12 runs from the last two balls.

Tewatia (13 not out off 3 balls), who has a reputation of hitting big sixes in crunch situations, sent the last two balls bowled by Odean Smith for maximums to hand the Titans their third win on the trot. The Punjab side made a brilliant comeback at the death and they were on the verge of a victory only to be denied by Tewatia in a dramatic fashion. Gill, who had hit 84 in the previous match against Delhi Capitals, was in imperious form as he cut, drove and smacked the Punjab bowlers to hold one end together.

He shared 101 runs in 11.2 overs with debutant Sai Sudharsan (35 off 30 balls) to keep the Titans on course in the run chase. It was not an easy chase though as the Titans needed more than 11 runs an over after Sudharsan was out off Rahul Chahar (1/41) in the 15th over. Arshdeep Singh (0/31) bowled brilliantly in the 18th over, giving away just five runs, leaving the Titans to score 32 from the final two overs. In a tense finish, Gill was out in the penultimate over after his captain had struck two fours off Kagiso Rabada (2/35).

Must Read: Gujarat Titans vs Punjab Kings: Tewatia’s marvelous sixes steered GT to victory

Gill leaves no chance against Punjab with 96 runs

The Titans needed 19 from the final over bowled by Smith (0/35) and 12 from the last two balls and Tewatia did the unthinkable. Earlier, England all-rounder Liam Livingstone, this IPL’s costliest foreign player, made full use of a lucky reprieve to smash a second consecutive half-century and help Punjab Kings post 189 for 9. Livingstone, who was bought for Rs 11.5 crore, smashed 64 off just 27 balls to score the bulk of the runs for Punjab Kings after being asked to bat first. He shared 52 runs for the third wicket with opener Shikhar Dhawan (35) to revive the Punjab innings after they were 43 for 2 after the powerplay.

Livingstone, who had hit 60 off 32 balls against Chennai Super Kings in the previous match, survived by the skin of his teeth in the ninth over, when he was on 14, as Titans captain Hardik Pandya’s foot touched the boundary ropes while trying to take a high catch off-spinner Rashid Khan (3/22). The Englishman took full advantage of the ‘life’ given to him as he reached to his fifty off 21 balls. In the end, he struck seven fours and four sixes in his quickfire knock. The potent Gujarat Titans bowling attack made a brief comeback with debutant Darshan Nalkande (2/37) and the seasoned Rashid claiming wickets in quick succession.

Nalkande removed Jitesh Sharma (23) and Odean Smith (0) off consecutive balls in the 14th over, while the wily Rashid dismissed Livingstone and Shahrukh Khan (15) in the space of three balls in the 16th over, besides claiming the wicket of Dhawan earlier. From 153 for 5 in the 16th over, Punjab were reduced to 162 for 9 but Rahul Chahar and Arshdeep Singh stitched a valuable 27-run partnership for the unconquered last wicket to take their side to a stiff total. Earlier, captain Mayank Agarwal (5) was out cheaply for the third time while star England batter Jonny Bairstow’s debut match for Punjab Kings lasted eight balls for as many runs as both fell inside the powerplay overs.