Livingstone's power undermined by Gill's timing

The Gujarat Titans (GT) defeated the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the fifteenth game of the 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL). The match was played in the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. Shubman Gill was adjudged to be the Man of the Match.

Livingstone and Sharma score at will

PBKS seemed to be rocked early on in the innings, losing skipper Mayank Agarwal and Jonny Bairstow within the powerplay. Shikhar Dhawan ensured the runs kept flowing from the other end, but it was really Liam Livingstone who turned things around for the Kings.

Whether it was debutant Darshan Nalkande or the vastly experienced Rashid Khan, Livingstone powered his way through the middle. The panache only increased once Jitendra Sharma joined the big hitting all rounder at the crease. The highlight of the partnership came in the 13th over, as the two punished Rahul Tewatia for 24 runs.

Singh and Chahar frustrate GT with the bat

PBKS have had one way of playing this year - go hard or go home. While it is a fun display when it pays off, it is the most painful thing to watch when it backfires. For instance, the Livingstone-Sharma partnership got everyone excited for a big finish. However, what followed was nothing short of shambolic.

After having some fun with Tewatia, Nalkande got rid of Sharma and Odean Smith in consecutive deliveries the next over. Livingstone continued to fire, getting a couple of boundaries that very over, but perished to Rashid Khan soon after. The Afghan leggie then got rid of Shahrukh Khan, who was looking to send the ball out of the stadium each time he swung his bat.

Suddenly, from looking at a 200+ total, many wondered if PBKS could reach 180. To add fuel to the fire, a horrible mix up between Rahul Chahar and Kagiso Rabada meant the latter was run out, and Mohammed Shami destroyed Vaibhav Arora’s stumps.

PBKS’ innings was slowly coming to a halt, with the score at 164/9 at the end of 18 overs. Yet the men in red found two unlikely heroes to post a competitive total for them in the form of Chahar and Arshdeep Singh.

First the pair managed to squeeze out 9 runs off the penultimate over. Then they absolutely thrashed Hardik Pandya for 16 runs off the last over to post a total of 189. The momentum had swung their way and how, and most expected them to come out in the second half all guns blazing.

Miller and Pandya lose it… seemingly

Coming out to chase 190, the GT batters seemed unfazed from the start. Even though Matthew Wade was dismissed quite early on, Shubman Gill and debutant Sai Sudharsan carried on the task as if it were a practice session in the nets.

Gill found a continuous flow of runs by sticking to his strength - timing. The young batter found gaps at ease, and kept the scoreboard ticking with little to no risk shots. From the drives to the pulls, there was nothing that he miscued and soon got to his 50 off 29 balls.

Sudharsan, on the other hand, relied a bit more on power, and seemed to pounce on anything that was either in his arc or was a gift from the bowler. The pair managed to add 101 runs for the second wicket before Sudharsan was dismissed by Chahar.

While Pandya got the odd boundary every now and then, he mostly gave strike to Gill who had been playing like a dream. Unfortunately, just as the asking rate climbed up, Gill fell to Rabada, and the pressure mounted on the Titans.

With 19 required off the last over, David Miller, the new batter, tried to give his captain the strike, but Pandya was run out thanks to some sharp work by Jonny Bairstow behind the stumps. The Titans, from a seemingly winning position, were losing the plot and fast.

Tewatia continues to haunt Punjab

Back in 2020, when the Punjab Kings were called the “Kings XI Punjab”, Rahul Tewatia had played one of the most dramatic innings to help his then team, the Rajasthan Royals, to a crazy win. Since that day, Tewatia’s stocks have risen exponentially and completing a Herculean task in cricket is now only half-jokingly called as “pulling off a Tewatia”.

When Tewatia walked out to bat last night, GT needed 18 runs off 5 balls. Odeon Smith seemed to bowl according to the team plan and brought the equation down to 12 off 2. In other words, there was no other way for the Titans to win without Tewatia, the man on strike, hitting consecutive sixes.

Just like in 2020, Tewatia, against all odds, swung for the hills and got his team over the line, once again, in the most unexpected fashion. Gujarat Titans, as a result, are so far the only unbeaten team in this year's tournament.