Gujarat Titans, Punjab Kings emerge victorious on double-header day filled with exciting finishes, records

NEW DELHI: In a double-header day full of exciting finishes and records, defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) emerged victorious in their respective Indian Premier League (IPL) matches against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Mumbai Indians (MI) on Saturday.

In the first match of the day, GT took on LSG at Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow.

GT put a modest total of 135/6 in their 20 overs after opting to bat first. Knocks from Wriddhiman Saha (47 in 37 balls with six fours) and skipper Hardik Pandya (66 in 50 balls with two fours and four sixes) helped their side reach a modest total.

Krunal Pandya was the leading bowler for LSG, with a spell of 2/16 in four overs. Marcus Stoinis took 2/20 in his three overs. Naveen-ul and Amit took a wicket each.

In the chase of 136 runs, Kyle Mayers (24) and KL were taking the side in the right direction with a 55-run opening stand. However, LSG batters lost their path and wickets in the final five overs, failing to get their 30 runs in these overs. With four wickets falling in the last over on four successive balls, including two run-outs, LSG ended at 128/7 in their 20 overs, seven runs short of the target. Mohammed Shami and Mohit Sharma delivered excellently in death overs.

Noor Ahmed was the pick of the bowlers for GT in their seven-run win, taking 2/18 in his four overs. Mohit Sharma took 2/17 in his three overs. Rashid Khan also got one wicket.

Mohit Sharma was given the ‘Man of the Match’ for holding his nerves to deliver an incredible final over.

Following his side’s win, skipper Hardik Pandya said, “Credit to the boys. We are a champion side, we won last year. You have to be satisfied with your results. The spirit and the atmosphere changed after getting wickets, that is a very great feeling. A win like this can boost your confidence. I think the way the wicket was playing, we could have got 10 runs more. There was uncertainty. They bowled well and made our life difficult. The batters could not get rhythm because of the wicket.”

“During the strategic timeout, we discussed the set batter going for it towards the end. We were always chasing them, and never in it. When they needed 30 runs in 30 balls, I thought they were ahead. But when they required 27 in 4 overs, I thought they were under pressure. That is where I thought we could be in the game. The way every bowler contributed, as a captain I could not have asked for (more). The amount of cricket he (Mohit Sharma) has played…He made my life easy, he backed his plans and executed them. Shami and Mohit were tremendous, special mention to Jayant who was playing after a long time. Noor Ahmed has some talent as well,” added the skipper.

On the other hand, KL Rahul expressed that he could not believe everything that transpired in the final few overs.

“I do not know how it happened, but it has happened. I cannot put a finger on where it went wrong, but we lost 2 points today, this is cricket. I thought we were brilliant with the ball, 135 was 10 runs under par, the bowling was exceptional, we started well with the bat, but these things happen, we will have to take it on the chin. But still a long way to go, 8 points off 7 games, we were on the wrong side of the result today. We were well ahead in the game and I wasn’t really trying to bat deep, I still wanted to play my shots, take on the bowlers, but they bowled well in that 2-3 over period, by Noor and Jayant, we perhaps should have taken a few more chances with wickets in hand, they bowled decently, but I think we missed out on some boundary opportunities, the pressure got to us in the last 3-4 overs, we played well until then. They did bowl well though.”

Mohit Sharma, who clinched his second ‘Man of the Match’ of the season, said, “Nothing special, everything is normal, as usual. I think I have been consistent. You need to focus and prepare in the same manner each and every time, that helps. You need to keep practising, just stick to the basics and try not to overthink. That belief factor was always there. Nehra adviced us to stick to our plans honestly. I tried to focus on executing my plans. Also tried that the batters couldn’t read what I was trying to bowl.”

The match saw some records being established.

KL Rahul reached the 7,000-run mark in T20 cricket. In 210 matches and 197 innings, KL has scored 7,054 runs at an average of 42.49. He has scored six centuries and 61 fifties in the format, with the best score of 132*. His strike rate in T20 is 136.20. Rahul is the fastest Indian to reach the milestone, reaching there in just 197 innings. Virat Kohli (212 innings), Shikhar Dhawan (246 innings), Suresh Raina (251 innings) and Rohit Sharma (268 innings) are behind him.

KL Rahul has scored 50 plus scores as an opener 35 times in the IPL, the third highest by any opener in IPL. Delhi Capitals skipper David Warner currently leads the chart, as he has scored 57 times 50 plus runs as an opener. The second position is held by one of the most decorated batters in the history of IPL Shikhar Dhawan. The left-handed batter has scored 48 times 50 plus runs as an opener.

But he also registered an unwanted record to his name. He played the third-slowest knock in IPL history, by a batter who has played atleast 60 balls in his innings. His knock is the third slowest in IPL history, behind JP Duminy, who played an inning of 59 (63) with a strike rate of 93.65 against Punjab Kings in 2009 while playing for Mumbai Indians (MI). Following him is Aaron Finch, who scored 68 (62) with a strike rate of 109.68 for Sunrisers Hyderabad against Mumbai Indians in 2014.

Though KL is the fourth-highest run-scorer in IPL this season, his strike rate is a concern. In seven matches, he has scored 262 runs at an average of 37.42 with two half-centuries and the best score of 74. His strike rate is 113.91 in IPL 2023 so far.

In the next match, MI took on PBKS at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.

MI won the toss and opted to field first against PBKS. PBKS inning ended at 214/8 in their 20 overs. Sam Curran (55 in 29 balls with five fours and four sixes), Harpreet Singh (41 in 28 balls with four boundaries and two sixes) and Atharva Taide (29 off 17 balls with three fours and a six) were among the top batters for Punjab.
Piyush Chawla (2/15 in three overs) was the pick of the bowlers for MI. Cameron Green also took 2/41 in his four overs. Jofra Archer, Jason Behrendorff and Arjun Tendulkar got one scalp each.

Chasing 215, MI lost Ishan Kishan early, but 76-run stand for the second wicket between skipper Rohit Sharma (44 off 27 balls with four boundaries and three sixes) and Green brought MI back into the game. Green, who scored 67 off 43 balls with six fours and three sixes also stitched a 75-run stand with Suryakumar Yadav (57 off 26 balls, seven fours and three sixes) for the third wicket.

But PBKS and Arshdeep (4/29) in particular delivered excellently in the death overs to win the match by 13 runs for PBKS.

The batting innings of PBKS saw record books getting re-written.

Mumbai Indians (MI) spinner Piyush Chawla overtook Ravichandran Ashwin to become the bowler with the fifth-highest wickets in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL). In the match, Chawla was the pick of the bowlers for MI, taking 2/15 in his three overs at an economy rate of 5.00. He took the wickets of Atharva Taide and Liam Livingstone.

In his IPL career which has seen him play for Chennai Super Kings, PBKS, Kolkata Knight Riders and MI, Piyush has taken 166 wickets in 171 matches at an average of 26.86 and an economy rate of 7.84. His best bowling figures are 4/17. At the age of 34, the spinner was picked up at last year’s auction for Rs 50 lakh and the move is paying rich dividends to his side. He has taken nine wickets in six matches at an average of 17.55 and an economy rate of 6/86. His best bowling figures are 3/22 and is in the ninth bowling charts so far. He is the leading wicket-taker for MI this season so far.

Punjab Kings on Saturday posted their second-highest total against Mumbai Indians (MI). The highest total for

Punjab Kings against MI is 230/3, which they posted back in 2017.

In their final six overs of the innings, i.e 16th to 20th over, Punjab Kings scored a massive 109 runs, second highest by any team in IPL in this phase of innings. The most runs in the final six overs of an innings were scored by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) against Gujarat Lions in 2016. They scored a total of 126 runs in this phase.

But there was an unfortunate record as well, Arjun Tendulkar bowled the second most expensive over in IPL by MI bowler in league’s history.

Arjun conceded 31 runs in the 16th over and with that over he bowled the second most expensive over by an MI bowler in the IPL. Daniel Sams holds the first position as he conceded 35 runs against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in 2022. For the third position there is a tie between three players as Pawan Suyal against Royal Challengers Bangalore (2014), Alzarri Joseph against Rajasthan Royals (2019) and Mitchell McClenaghan vs PBKS (2017) have conceded 28 runs each.

During MI’s batting, Rohit Sharma touched the mark of 250 sixes in Indian Premier League (IPL) history, becoming the first-ever Indian to do so. With this, his six tallies in IPL has gone to exactly 250 sixes. In 233 matches, he has scored 6,058 runs at an average of 30.29 and a strike rate of 130.22. He has one century and 41 half-centuries in league, with the best score of 109*.

He is the third player overall to have hit 250 or more sixes in IPL. The top five players with the most sixes in IPL history: Chris Gayle – 357, AB De Villiers – 251, Rohit Sharma – 250, MS Dhoni – 235, Virat Kohli – 229.

Arshdeep Singh, PBKS’s rising star also completed 50 wickets in his IPL career. In the match, Arshdeep ended with figures of 4/29 in four overs with an economy rate of 7.25. He took wickets of Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma and Nehal Wadhra. Defending 16 runs in the final over, he gave away only two runs and picked up scalps of Tilak and Nehal, breaking their middle stumps in the process. In 44 IPL matches, Arshdeep has taken 53 wickets at an average of 23.74 and an economy rate of 8.32. His best bowling figures are 5/32.

Following his side’s win, PBKS skipper Sam Curran said, “Pretty special. What an amazing ground. The environment is incredible here. It (the win) is a massive positive for us. I do not think I should be getting the Man of the Match considering how the boys closed the game out there. Without Shikhar, we know we had to take that responsibility. Our group is coming together really well. Shikhar will be fit soon. We won 4 out of the 7 games and it is not a bad place to be. Have got great support from the management and the local guys. The boys are enjoying themselves, and it is still a long way to go and the important thing is enjoy the game and do not put too much pressure on ourselves.”

On the other hand, Rohit Sharma said, “Yes, a little disappointment there (in death overs), we made some errors in the field which can happen, not gonna look too much into that. Just keep our heads high, we have won three and lost three, pretty even-stevens at the moment. There is a lot of time left in the tournament. We can’t look down and start worrying about things. Yes, we did not come out on top today. We made some errors but something to go back and look into. (On Green and Sky) Quite happy with the way those two guys batted today and they kept us in the game till the end. Credit to Arshdeep the way he bowled in the last couple of overs.”

Curran also won the ‘Player of the Match’ award.

GT is at the fourth position with four wins and two losses (8 points) while LSG is at second place with four wins and three losses (8 points). PBKS is at fifth position with four wins and three losses (8 points) while MI is at eighth spot with three wins and three losses (six points). (ANI)