Gujarat Titans (GT) registered a 6-wicket victory against Punjab Kings (PBKS) as Rahul Tewatia hit a second-last ball four. The match was taken deep by the Gujarat batters but ideally, they should have finished it off earlier.
Batting first, Punjab posted 153 runs after some cameos from a few batters. Matthew Short top-scored for Punjab after he scored 36 runs in 24 balls. Bhanuka Rajapaksha, Jitesh Sharma, Sam Curran, and Shah Rukh Khan all scored knocks in the bracket of 20s and powered Punjab to a defendable total.
In reply, Gujarat were pretty much comfortable in the chase. In this article, we take a look at 3 talking points of the game between Punjab Kings and Gujarat Titans:
1. The opening pair of Shubman Gill and Wriddhiman Saha is the best opening combination of Gujarat
The duo performed exceedingly well in IPL 2022 as well and played a pivotal role in guiding Gujarat to their maiden title. Now, they are clicking in IPL 2023 as well. Shubman Gill once again scored a top-drawer half-century and scored 67 runs in 49 balls.
Wicket-keeper batter Wriddhiman Saha played a blistering cameo of 30 runs in just 19 balls. His knock was packed with 5 boundaries.
2. Mohit Sharma has staged a supreme comeback
The ICC ODI World Cup 2015 bowler of the Indian cricket team, Mohit Sharma plunged into oblivion after a brief stint with the Indian cricket team. But he has sprung back into the limelight with a match-defining bowling spell in this game.
Sharma bagged 2 wickets in the game for Gujarat Titans and conceded only 18 runs in his 4 overs. He had a superb economy of 4.50. Mohit Sharma also bagged the player of the match for this extraordinary spell of his.
3. Punjab Kings are too overdependent on Shikhar Dhawan
Shikhar Dhawan has been the backbone of the Punjab Kings franchise. In the previous game against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), Dhawan mustered a knock of 99* runs and was the cynosure of all eyes.
But the team is becoming over dependent on him. The batting unit lacked the firepower today after Dhawan got dismissed cheaply. The skipper of Punjab Kings only scored 8 runs today and the rest of the batters failed to get a big knock.
Naturally, these are worrying signs for the team as they should not get into a zone where they depend on a particular player or batter.
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