Shashank Singh’s spectacular half-century took Punjab Kings (PBKS) to a fantastic win against Gujarat Titans (GT) by 3 wickets.
Gujarat scored 199/4 in 20 overs and in reply Punjab clinched the victory and scored 200/7 in 19.5 overs.
Titans got a brilliant upper hand against SRH in their last match as they won it by 7 wickets while Kings got easily destroyed by Lucknow in their last encounter by 21 runs.
Shikhar Dhawan after winning the toss, invited Gujarat to bat first.
The captain Shubman Gill led from the front from the start as he scored unbeaten 89 runs in 48 balls. He looked solid from the start which ultimately helped him to bat till the end. He hit 6 fours and 4 sixes in his innings.
He was well supported by the man in form Sai Sudharsan (33 runs) first with whom he got 53 runs partnership and then towards the end he got an ultimate partnership of 33 runs in just 14 balls with Rahul Tewatia (23 runs not out). He just played 8 balls and hit 3 fours and a six.
Kagiso Rabada got 2 wickets while Harpreet Brar and Harshal Patel got 1 wicket each.
In the chase, Punjab didn’t look well as they were unable to get long partnerships at the start. Prabhsimran Singh (35 runs) tried some good shots but didn’t get proper support from the other end.
But then Shashank Singh showed a huge glimpse of power hitting and registered his maiden IPL half-century after scoring 61 runs. In his 29 balls knock he hit 6 fours and 4 sixes. He got a great support from the impact player, Ashutosh Sharma, who got 31 runs in just 17 balls which includes 3 fours and a six.
Both of them added 44 runs in just 22 balls which ultimately changed the atmosphere in favour of their team. But the final laugh was created by Shashank who took his team to the finishing line.
Titans all bowlers took at least one wicket. Noor Ahmed got 2 wickets while the remaining others got 1 each. Umesh Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Rashid Khan, Azmatullah Omarzai and Darshan Nalkande got 1 wicket each.