Sensational batting by Rahul Tewatia (40 not out off 21) and Rashid Khan (31 not out off 11) in the slog overs overcame pacer Umran Malik’s maiden fifer (5/25) as Gujarat Titans beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by five wickets in a thrilling IPL 2022 match at the Wankhede Stadium, here on Wednesday.
Invited to bat first, brilliant fifties by Abhishek Sharma (65 off 42), Aiden Markram (56 off 40) and a late blitz by Shashank Singh (25 not out off 6) powered Sunrisers Hyderabad to 195/6 in 20 overs.
Chasing a big total, Wriddhiman Saha and Shubman Gill gave Gujarat a flying start. Saha, in particular, was very aggressive and dealt in boundaries, to take his team 59/0 at the end the powerplay.
It was Umran Malik, who gave SRH their first breakthrough by removing Shubman Gill (22) in the fourth ball of the 8th over. In the very next ball, he hit Hardik Pandya on the shoulder with a thunderbolt. In his second over, Umran again troubled Hardik (10) and eventually dismissed the Gujarat skipper with a short ball.
Both sides didn’t want to give any inch to their opposition at the half-way stage, GT had reached 91 for 2 with Saha and David Miller at the crease. While Malik was hogging all the limelight with his sheer pace, Saha continued his good job with the bat for Gujarat as he brought up a 28-ball fifty.
Just when it looked like Saha and David had brought GT back into the game, Malik bagged his wicket by dismissing Saha. Saha (68 off 38) failed to dig out a yorker from Malik, leaving GT to 122/3, needing 74 more in 40. Umran completed his demolition job of the GT batting order in his final over when he blew away David Miller and Abhinav Manohar in back to back deliveries to record his first five-wicket haul in the IPL.
Gujarat were in a spot of bother at 140/5 after 16 overs with Tewatia and Rasid in the middle. The duo went on to crack a slew of shots to break open the game. With 35 needed off 12 balls, the left-handed Tewatia used the left-arm angle to his advantage by smacking T Natarajan for a boundary and six – slog-sweep over cow corner.
Gujarat needed 22 runs in the last over of the innings and Tewatia began on the right note by clubbing Marco Jansen over deep midwicket for another six but could eke out only a single off the next ball. Rashid then showcased his pyrotechnics and managed to smash three sixes in the four balls to take their team over the victory line.
Earlier, invited to bat first, Mohammed Shami drifted down the leg side to SRH opener Abhishek Sharma twice in the opening over of the innings to concede 11 runs. Left arm pacer Yash Dayal, who came to bowl next over, was struck for two fours by Abhishek as Hyderabad raced to 22/0 after the end of 2 overs.
However, Shami made a brilliant comeback by dismissing SRH skipper Kane Williamson (5) on an incoming delivery. Rahul Tripathi (16 off 10), who came to bat next, was dropped by Rashid Khan when he was on 0. The right-handed batter took advantage of that reprieve and smashed Shami for a six and two fours off successive deliveries before the veteran pacer trapped him in front of the stumps to leave SRH at 44/2 after 5 overs.
From there on, Abhishek and Aiden Markram did the rebuilding job for Hyderabad.Though they were not able to find regular boundaries, both Abhishek and Markram rotated the strike as much as possible and kept the SRH run-rate steady.
After spending enough time in the middle, Abhishek decided to free his arms and hit his former teammate Rashid Khan for two sixes in the 12th over and brought up his half-century off 33-balls. On the other hand, Markram was targeting the likes of Alzarri Joseph and Lockie Ferguson for boundaries at regular intervals.
With five overs to go and both batters set, SRH were cruising towards a big score but an off-cutter from Joseph got rid of Abhishek, who departed for 65 off 42, leaving SRH at 140/3 in 15.1 overs. Nicholas Pooran (3), the next batter couldn’t do much and was dismissed by Shami in his comeback spell.
Despite losing quick wickets from the other end, Markram continued his innings with the same force and reached his half century. But he couldn’t give the finishing touch to SRH innings, getting out on a slow ball from Yash Dayal on the last delivery of the 18th over.
Gujarat Titans pulled things back by getting rid of Washington Sundar, who was run out at the non-striker’s end but the likes of Shashank and Marco Jansen had saved their best for the last over.
Getting his first proper chance to bat despite featuring in the eleven in the last few games, Shashank made the most of the opportunity and smashed three sixes off Ferguson while Jansen also hit a maximum as 25 came off the final over and SRH finished with 195/6 in 20 overs.
Mohammed Shami (3/39), Yash Dayal (1/24), Alzarri Joseph (1/35) were the wicket-takers for Gujarat.
Brief scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad — 195/6 in 20 Overs (Abhishek Sharma 65, Aiden Markram 56; Mohammed Shami 3/39) lost to Gujarat Titans 199/5 in 20 Overs (Wriddhiman Saha 68, Rahul Tewatia 40 not out; Umran Malik 5/25) by 5 wickets
