Sudharsan, pacers lift GT to four-wicket win over PBKS

Sai Sudharsan’s cool-headed 57 alongside the storm kicked up by pacers Mohammed Siraj, Jason Holder and Kagiso Rabada carried the Gujarat Titans to a last-over four-wicket victory over Punjab Kings in their IPL match here on Sunday.

On a slightly slow pitch, the Titans needed a level-headed chase of 164, and Sudharsan did precisely that during his 41-ball knock.

A similar innings from debutant Suryansh Shedge’s energetic 57 had helped PBKS to post 163 for nine despite Siraj (2/28) and Holder (4/24) reducing them to 47 for five in 8.4 overs.

But it was Sudharsans’ turn to stand on the winners’ podium in the battle of half-centurions on the night. The result meant that GT stayed at five in the table but their points tally swelled to 12, while PBKS also maintained their top spot with 13 points for now. 

After skipper Shubman Gill fell early to Arshdeep Singh, Sudharsan took control of the chase and added 53 runs for the second wicket with Jos Buttler.

Buttler (25) was the more dominant partner, dismissing Marco Jansen and Xavier Bartlett for a six each, the second one being an audacious scoop over the wicketkeeper.

But the England batter could not clear the infield off Vyshak Vijayakumar, giving a catch to Shreyas Iyer.

But Sudharsan continued undeterred and reached his third fifty of this IPL season off 37 balls.

The left-hander celebrated that with a couple of fours off Yuzvendra Chahal but could not impart distance to a pull off Vysakh, getting caught on the ropes by Bartlett.

The dismissal of Rahul Tewatia added some more drama to the close contest, with GT needing 11 runs off the final over.

But Washington Sundar (40 not out, 23b) stayed long enough to finish the match with a scooped six off Marcus Stoinis.

Earlier, Shedge made a well-made fifty but GT could not progress beyond 163 for nine.

But even that total looked distant once the Gujarat pacers found their wares early in the innings.

However, Shedge’s 29 ball innings, instrumental in a 79-run alliance for the sixth wicket with Stoinis (40) helped Punjab to recover from that precarious place to some extent.

Shedge, who often does the firefighting job for Mumbai in domestic cricket, used that experience here for Punjab.

The right-hander never looked to force the shots, and accepted the superiority of GT bowlers on this pitch and the lines they bowled.

But he was not reluctant to flex his muscles when the opportunity presented itself, such as the 14th over bowled by Manav Suthar.

Shedge hammered him for 6, 6, 4, 4, 6 to take 26 runs from that over and fetched his fifty in just 24 balls.

But he did not last long after that, edging Rabada (2/22) to Jos Buttler behind the stumps, as PBKS lost their way once again.

However, Siraj, who has been outstanding throughout this tournament, started the Titans’ slide early, dismissing Priyansh Arya and Cooper Connolly off successive balls in the very first over.

Arya cut Siraj straight to GT debutant Nishant Sandhu in the deep, while Connolly snicked one back to Buttler.

Prabhsimran Singh could not negate Rabada’s 152 kmph rocket and scooped it to Suthar inside the circle.

Holder took over from there, giving marching order to Nehal Wadhera and PBKS skipper Shreyas Iyer, excellent examples of his stifling line.

Wadhera edged one to stumper Buttler, and Shreyas did not have enough space to guide it to third man, and chopped Holder back onto his stumps as PBKS fell to complete disarray.

Marco Jansen made a couple of beefy blows in the final over off Rashid Khan to take them past the 160-run mark.