All-round Gujarat move to 2nd place with win over Hyderabad

Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj grabbed two wickets each as Gujarat Titans (GT) registered a 38-run victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), in Match 51 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday.

With this loss, SRH stand virtually eliminated, having won only three of their 10 games. Hosts, Gujarat Titans, moved past Royal Challengers Bengaluru, via net run rate, into the second spot with 14 points.

With Sunrisers Hyderabad chasing a massive target of 225 courtesy of half-centuries by Shubman Gill and Jos Buttler for Gujarat Titams, no one could not rule out the dangerous opening pair of Abhishek Sharma (74) and Travis Head (20) who got off to a strong start with a six and four respectively off Mohammed Siraj in the first over.

Abhishek, the young Indian batter, scored at a brisk pace while Head joined in with three boundaries, and the duo could have made a serious dent in GT’s total if it was not for a screamer of a catch by Rashid Khan. A short delivery by Prasidh Krishna saw Head pull it towards the square boundary, where Rashid covered quite some distance and took a solid diving catch to leave the Australian in disbelief and also saw Krishna reclaim the Purple Cap.

While Abhishek kept finding boundaries at regular intervals, Ishan Kishan (13) seriously struggled on this day and failed to find a single boundary during his 17-ball stay at the crease. The game always looked to be creeping away from the visitors despite Abhishek and Heinrich Klassen (23) dispatching Rashid Khan for a six each in the 11th over.

Abhishek notched his first half-century of the campaign in the 12th over with a six off Gerald Coetzee. He went on to score 74 off 41 at a strike rate of 180.49 before losing his wicket in an effort to further ramp up the run-rate. A short ball by Ishant Sharma saw Abhishek mistime his pull-shot, and Siraj ran in from deep midwicket to take a low catch to completely drag the game in GT’s favour.

Krishna added to the visitors’ misery by finding a thin inside edge off Klassen as he claimed his 100th wicket in the format.

The Sunrisers’ innings crumbled from there as power-hitter Aniket Verma (3) holed out to Shahrukh Khan at long-on. Siraj continued the mayhem with a short-ball on the next delivery that Kamindu Mendis (0) failed to latch on to and edged it, Jos Buttler took a solid catch.

The game was all but done and dusted from there, SRH needed 65 runs with 12 balls remaining. A six by Pat Cummins (19*) and two by Nitish Kumar Reddy (21*) off Rashid in the penultimate over saw SRH move closer to the total, but their efforts went in vain as they ended the innings at 186/6 in 20 overs.

Earlier, in the first innings, fifties by Gill and Buttler, alongside Sai Sudharsan’s 48-run blitz, saw Gujarat Titans score 224/6 in 20 overs. For the bowling side, Jaydev Unadkat was the highest wicket-taker with three scalps to his name. Gill’s innings was one of flair and class. The Indian top-order batter showed his deep arsenal of shot selection, finding the gap and rushing to 76 off just 38 deliveries with 10 boundaries and two sixes to his name.

It is the third innings in a row when the right-handed opener failed to reach the century milestone after having looked set for a big score, with scores of 90 and 84 in their last two games.

After being put to bat first by SRH, Gill let his intentions be known from the get-go when he flicked Mohammed Shami over the fielder at deep fine leg for six off the third delivery. It certainly was not the best of days for the veteran Indian pacer as Sudharsan struck him for five boundaries in the third over. Gill continued the fireworks by hitting two brilliantly struck fours through the covers off Pat Cummins before hitting his second maximum of the night in the same over.

Sudharsan continued the rampage by hitting four boundaries off Harshal Patel as the duo raised Gujarat Titans’ highest score in the power play by smashing 82/0 in the opening six overs. However, the left-handed opener was denied his sixth half-century of the season courtesy of a googly outside the off-stump by Zeeshan Ansari, which saw Sudharsan attempt to cut it late, but a reactive Klassen took the catch to earn their first breakthrough.

Indo-Asian News Service

Brief scores:

Gujarat Titans 224/6 in 20 overs (Shubman Gill 76, Jos Buttler 64; Jaydev Unadkat 3-35, Pat Cummins 1-40) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 186/6 in 20 overs (Abhishek Sharma 74, Heinrich Klassen 23; Prasidh Krishna 2-19, Mohammed Siraj 2-33) by 38 runs