STATS HIGHLIGHTS
Follow UsJust when Punjab Kings thought they had the game in their hands, Rahul Tewatia produced another magical innings to bail out Gujarat Titans. Let be for Rajasthan Royals or Gujarat, Tewatia loves stealing the thunder against Punjab.
Tewatia steals the show
There is something between Tewatia, Punjab and Punjab’s West Indian bowler. For the second time against Punjab, Tewatia has snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat. The first instance was in 2020 in Sharjah when he clubbed 30 runs against Sheldon Cottrell in the 18th over when Rajasthan needed 51 in the last three overs.
In this match, the odds were even more challenging when he came into bat in the last over. With 12 needed off the last two balls, Tewatia smashed two sixes off the last two balls to win the game. Once again, it was a West Indian bowler – Odean Smith – for Punjab. By achieving the unthinkable, Tewatia became the second batsmen in IPL to hit two sixes when 12 runs were required off the last two balls. Co-incidentally, the first instance also came against Punjab when MS Dhoni hit two sixes off Axar Patel in 2016.
Gujarat make it three in three
A Shubman Gill masterclass at the top and a Tewatia miracle saw Gujarat win all their first three encounters.
Chasing 190, Gill alongside the debutant Sai Sudharsan, forged a 101-run partnership off just 68 balls for the second wicket to resurrect their chase after Matthew Wade’s early exit. Even after the dismissal of Sudharsan, Gill carried on, but fell four short of a well-deserved century. However, Tewatia’s two sixes of the last two balls saw Gujarat parry over. In the history of IPL, only two other teams have won the first three encounters. Chennai Super Kings in 2008 under MS Dhoni, won their first four and the now-defunct Gujarat Lions under Suresh Raina in 2016, won their first three.
Gill’s first under 30-ball half-century
When Gill gets going, his batting is as eye pleasing as a prime Virat Kohli’s batting and KL Rahul. This season so far, everyone has seen a different Gill. In the first 15 balls this season, Gill has scored a strike rate of 163.6, in none of the other seasons has he scored over 140.
In his match against Punjab, Gill registered his half-century off just 29 balls, his first sub-30 balls half-century in the IPL. In his previous match, he had scored a fifty off 32 balls, which was his joint fastest then. To add more, in his last innings, Gill had scored 84, which was then his highest score in T20s. In this match, he went past that to register his best.
Dhawan, the first Indian to 1000 fours
In the IPL, Shikhar Dhawan has hit 668 boundary fours, which is 119 more than Kohli who is in second in the list of most fours hit.
In his match against Gujarat, Dhawan hit four boundaries, all of them boundary fours. When he hit his third boundary, Dhawan became the first Indian batter in T20s to hit 1000 fours. Overall, he is the fifth to this landmark.
Livingstone shows consistency with brute power
Though the defeat was indigestible for Punjab against Gujarat, Liam Livingstone scoring with consistency is a positive for Punjab. In his previous match, Livingstone smashed a 60 off 32 balls against Chennai Super Kings and helped Punjab to propel to a score of 180. In today’s match, he was even more brutal.
Livingstone came into bat inside the first six overs, just like the last match and carried off from where he had left. He reached his half-century in just 21 balls and registered the joint fastest IPL 50 at the Brabourne, Yusuf Pathan against Mumbai in 2010 had also hit a 21-ball 50. By the end of his innings against Gujarat, Livingstone had scored 64 runs at strike rate of 237.03, which is the fourth best for a Punjab batsman in an IPL innings of 50+ runs.
