Match Report – PBKS vs GT 37th Match, April 21, 2024

Gujarat Titans 146 for 7 (Tewatia 36*, Gill 35, Harshal 3-15) beat Punjab Kings 142 (Prabhsimran 35, Brar 29, Sai Kishore 4-33) by three wickets

Titans’ spinners wreck Punjab Kings

Rashid made himself almost impossible to hit. He bowled a three-run fifth over when Kings had been going at 10.50, previously. Noor, the left-arm wristspinner, then had Rilee Russouw lbw in the seventh over to kick off the period of massive spin dominance, in which six more would fall to the slow bowlers.

Rashid and Noor bowled in tandem in the five overs after the powerplay and gave away only 24 runs, taking two wickets. Then came Sai Kishore, and by this stage Kings were desperate for boundaries. They kept trying to hit out against him, but he varied his pace and flight beautifully, and kept deceiving them.

His first dismissal – Jitesh Sharma – came via hitting the stumps. His second, was the prized wicket of Ashutosh Sharma, who holed out to the sweeper cover. He later had Shashank Singh caught and bowled, and Harpreet Brar caught at the straight boundary at the death.

All up, the spinners took 7 for 68 from their 12 overs.

But Tewatia hit two fours off Brar’s over to bring the required rate back in hand, and restore Titans’ grip on the match. Then he hit three fours – two clubbed down the ground, and one tickled through fine leg – off Kagiso Rabada’s 18th over, in which Shahrukh Khan also hit a six. They reaped 20 runs there, and essentially made the game safe, bringing the requirement to five off 12 balls.

When they were defending their poor score, Livingstone took 2 for 19 from his four overs, and Harshal Patel and Sam Curran backed him up – Harshal taking three wickets and Curran one. But Kings had lost too much ground already with the bat.