Rashid Khan hammers 3 sixes in final four balls to help GT beat SRH
Afghanistan star Rashid Khan shines with the bat as he hammered Sunrisers Hyderabad pacer Marco Jansen for three sixes in the final four balls of the match to help Gujarat Titans beat Kane Williamson's side by 5 wickets in Match Number 40 of ongoing Indian Premier League season at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Chasing the target of 197 runs, Titans needed 23 runs in the final over but Rahul Tewatia and Rashid Khan did the unthinkable once again as the duo helped the Ahmedabad-based side register the seventh win of this tournament in eight matches to regain the number one position in the points table.
For SRH, Umran Malik registered the best figures of this year's IPL but his effort of 5 for 24 in four overs couldn't help his side win the match.
Earlier, batting first after losing the toss for the first time in eight matches, SRH ride on opener Abhishek Sharma and Aiden Markram struck sparkling half-centuries to post 195 for six on the board.
Abhishek blazed away to 65 off 42 deliveries, while Markram made a 40-ball 56 during a third-wicket stand of 96 runs.
Then, Shashank Singh (25 off 6 balls) smashed Lockie Ferguson (0/52 in 4 overs) for three successive sixes to score 25 runs in the innings' final over.
To start with, SRH were helped by Mohammed Shami's (3/39 in 4 overs) 11-run opening over in which a first-ball beauty was followed by five leg-side wides, not once but twice.
Yash Dayal too conceded 11 runs, thanks to two boundaries by Abhishek Sharma on the off side, as SRH raced to 22 for no loss in two overs.
Kane Williamson clipped Shami over square leg for his first boundary but that's all the SRH skipper could do with the bat as, three balls later, the seasoned India pacer went through the gate with a lovely seaming delivery to dismiss the Kiwi and give his team the match's first breakthrough.
Having got a life at point even before he could open his account, Rahul Tripathi smashed Shami for 6, 4, 4 before a review found that the batter was trapped in front of the wicket in an eventful fifth over, which went for 14 runs.
Unperturbed by the fall of two wickets, Abhishek collected two successive fours off Alzarri Joseph -- first he lofted over the infield and then found the gap through a packed off-side -- to help SRH score 53 runs in the six power play overs at the Wankhede Stadium.
SRH needed a partnership at that stage and the duo of Abhishek and Markram not just provided them that but also kept the scoreboard moving at a very good rate by regularly finding the boundaries.
While Markram dealt with the likes of pacers such as Alzarri, Abhishek went after Rashid Khan, hitting the Afghanistan spin ace for his third six to reach his half-century in style.
Against Rashid, Abhishek was particularly strong on the on-side, getting his three sixes over long-on and deep mid-wicket.
However, the 21-year-old's fine innings came to an end when he inside-edged a slower delivery from Alzarri in the first ball of the 16th over.
Shami came back to dismiss the big-hitting Nicholas Pooran (3) cheaply before Markram got to his fifty by pulling the bowler for a six over deep mid-wicket. Stationed in the deep, Rashid's day in the field got worse as he misjudged it.