Picture : Twitter / IPL
Gujarat Titans once again attained the pole position in the TataIPL 2022 overtaking the Rajasthan Royals as they clinched a thrilling last ball win over the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 40th match at the Wankhede Stadium.
Titans skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss and decided to field first. SRH lost Skipper Kane Williamson early for 5 . Williamson despite the team performing well had struggled for runs with the bat . In- from Rahul Tripathi was out for ( 16). Meanwhile , Abhishek Sharma held the innings at the top with a fine innings of 65 , 42 balls , six fours and three sixes. Big South African Aiden Markram continued his impressive run of form with 40 ball 56 ( 2 fours , three sixes) . SRH at one stage threated to reach around 210 – 220 . But loss of quick wickets dented that hopes. Shashank Singh ( 3 sixes, 1 four ) a six ball 25 and Marco Jansen ( 8, 1 six) ) scored 25 in the last over bowled by Kiwi Lockie Ferguson. SRH reaching 195/ 6 in their 20 overs .
Titans bowling figures were : Mohammed Shami 3/ 39 ( 4 overs) , Yash Dayal 1/ 24 ( 4 overs) , Alzarri Joseph 1/ 35 ( 4 overs) , Rashid Khan 0/ 45 ( 4 overs) was unusually expensive which is rare. Lockie Ferguson had a nightmare 0/ 52 ( 4 overs) 25 which came off his last over.
In reply, Titans were positive right from the start. Shubman Gill was subdued a 24 ball 22. But it was Wriddhiman Saha who caught the eye with a superb attacking inning at the top of the order. Opening the innings he looked at ease and scored a brilliant 38 ball 68 with 11 fours and 1 six before he fell bowled by a stinging yorker 153 Km / hr yorker from fast and furious Umran Malik. Malik was sensational and bagged the all the five Titans wickets in his fiery 4 overs spell > He had a stunning figures of 5/ 25 . His victims besides Saha were Gill, Hardik Pandya ( 10) who was rattled by Umran’s vicious bouncer, David Miller ( 17) , Abhinav Manohar ( 0). Umran’s spell left Titans tottering at 140/5 after 16 overs.
Rashid revived Gujarat’s hopes when he played a Mahendra Singh Dhoni-type helicopter shot for a six off Bhuvneshwar Kumar over long on in the 18th over.
SRH still had the upper hand as Gujarat faced a stiff task of scoring 35 from the last two overs.
Tewatia made a good start to the 19th over when he lofted T Natarajan’s first ball over mid-off for a four and swung the fifth for a six over midwicket.
13 runs from the 19th over left Gujarat to score 22 from the final over to be bowled by 21-year-old left-arm pacer Marco Jansen.
Jansen began nervously with a slower delivery on length which Tewatia slog swept over midwicket for a six, but could only manage a single off the next.
Rashid took over the show as he lofted the third ball straight down the ground for a six, but was beaten next ball trying another big heave as Jansen got the short of good length delivery to slant across him.
Jansen seemed to be crumbling under the pressure as he gifted Rashid a full toss which was promptly despatched over the off-side for another six.
With three needed off the final delivery, Jansen bowled a half-tracker which Rashid pulled over fine leg for the fourth six of the over, which carried Gujarat to a famous five wicket off the last ball of the match. The shocker Jansen over saw SRH coach Muttiah Muralitharan fuming with rage. Jansen over went for 25 ( 6,1,6,0,6,6) Titans finishing at 199/ 5 in their 20 overs.
A look at the Points Table after Match 40 of #TATAIPL pic.twitter.com/juewWJPnN7
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 27, 2022
Rashid stroked an unbeaten 31 from 11) 4 sixes) balls, while Tewatia smashed 40( 4 fours , 2 sixes) from 21 balls. Rashid and Tewatia’s stunning 59-run stand took just 24 balls.
WHAT. A. GAME! 👌👌
WHAT. A. FINISH! 👍👍
We witnessed an absolute thriller at the Wankhede and it’s the @gujarat_titans who edged out #SRH to seal a last-ball win! 🙌 🙌
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/r0x3cGZLvS #TATAIPL #GTvSRH pic.twitter.com/jCvKNtWN38
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 27, 2022
SRH death bowling needs to have a look in : Umran Malik was outstanding 5/ 25 ( 4 overs) yet ended up on a losing side . PIty other bolwers did not support Umran, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 0/ 33 ( 4 overs) , Marco Jansen 0/63 ( 4 overs) 25 off the last over, T Natarajan 0/43( 4 overs) Washington Sundar 0/ 34 ( 4 overs)
