MUMBAI: Rahul Tewatia’s two sixes off the last two balls of the run-chase against Punjab Kings handed a six-wicket win to Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League on Friday.
Tewatia was unbeaten on 13 off three balls as Hardik Pandya’s Gujarat, who chose to field first after winning the toss, reached their 190-run target to win on the last ball of the match.
Gujarat opener Shubman Gill was the game’s top scorer — hitting 96 off 59 balls, with 11 fours and a six — before he fell to South African Kagiso Rabada in the second last over of the chase.
Gill struck key partnerships with debutant B Sai Sudharsan, 35 off 30 balls, and Pandya, who made 27 off 18.
India’s rookie left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh was the most effective Punjab bowler but went wicket-less in his four overs for 31 runs.
Rabada took two wickets — including opener Matthew Wade, who hit 6 off 7 balls — and gave up 35 runs in his four overs.
West Indian all-rounder Odean Smith leaked 19 runs off the last six balls of Gujarat’s chase and went wicket-less in his three overs for 35 runs.
Earlier, a batting collapse restricted Punjab to 189-9 after some aggressive hitting by middle-order batters.
Punjab captain Mayank Agarwal scored five off nine and his opening partner Shikhar Dhawan hit 35 off 30 before falling to Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan.
Khan took three wickets with his wily spin and only concede 22 runs in his four overs.
Liam Livingstone, the most impressive Punjab batter, scored 64 off 27 balls and hit seven fours and four sixes before falling to Rashid.
Rashid also took Indian hitter M Shahrukh Khan’s scalp on 15.
Rookie Jitesh Sharma, 23 off 11 balls, and leg-spinner Rahul Chahar, unbeaten 22 off 14, gave some respectability to the Punjab score.
Gujarat debutant Darshan Nalkande took two wickets for 37 runs in his three overs.
Pandya and pacer Mohammad Shami both took one wicket each in their respective four over spells.
“It was Kings’ game — some sympathy for them losing this,” skipper Pandya said after the game.
The world’s most valuable cricket tournament has been expanded to 10 teams and 74 matches, but league games will be restricted to four venues in Mumbai and Pune with limited crowds because of coronavirus-related restrictions. — AFP
Brief scores: Gujarat Titans 190-4 (Shubman Gill 96, Sai Sudharsan 35; Kagiso Rabada 2-35) beat Punjab Kings 189-9 (Liam Livingstone 64, Shikhar Dhawan 35; Rashid Khan 3-22) by 6 wickets.
