Gujarat Titans nearly pulled off a miraculous chase but fell 11 runs short against Punjab Kings in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.
Chasing 244, the home team got off to a good start with Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan (74 off 41 balls) putting on a 61-run opening stand. Jos Buttler and Sherfane Rutherford then took the challenge forward, but tight bowling and regular fall of wickets hindered their progress.
They needed 45 off the last two overs, but Vijaykumar Vyshak and Arshdeep Singh restricted their run scoring.
It was Shreyas Iyer’s unbeaten knock that laid the foundation for Punjab’s victory. But earlier, it was Titans’ Sai Kishore who caused a stir in the 11th over of the innings, dismissing Azmatullah Omarzai and Glenn Maxwell off consecutive deliveries.The left-arm spinner finished with 3/30.
It was a first-ball duck for Maxwell, who was adjudged lbw. Replays showed the ball would have bounced over the stumps, but Maxwell didn’t go for a review. With 19 IPL ducks, the Aussie now tops the list in that category.
Captain’s knock
Shreyas seems to have carried his Champions Trophy form into the IPL.
The Punjab Kings captain smashed 97 not out off 42 balls in his maiden innings with the franchise, helping them reach 243/5 after being put into bat. He did not get to play a single ball of the final over and allowed Shashank Singh to plunder 22 runs off Mohammed Siraj.
Shashank later revealed that Shreyas had told him to keep the strike and not worry about his century.
Batting at No. 3, Shreyas showed the extent of damage he can do even in a T20 contest, smashing nine sixes — his second most in an IPL innings. Luck too favoured Shreyas on a few occasions.
Shashank remained unbeaten on 44 off only 16 balls.