Kagiso Rabada has now taken the third-most four-wicket hauls (6) in the history of IPL.
Kagiso Rabada was the standout performer for Punjab Kings (PBKS) as the South African speedster took 4/33 to restrict Gujarat Titans (GT) to just 143/8 in 20 overs, with his team eventually winning by eight wickets at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. Senior batter Shikhar Dhawan then played a responsible unbeaten innings of 62 runs to execute the run-chase to perfection.
Skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss and GT elected to bat first. Both the teams went into the match with the same Playing XI from their respective last games. Shubman Gill’s lean run from the previous few matches continued as he got run-out for just nine runs. Wicketkeeper batter Wriddhiman Saha scored 21 runs off 17 deliveries, captain Hardik got dismissed for a single, while David Miller and Rahul Tewatia both made 11 runs apiece as GT’s innings was all about Sai Sudharsan’s 65* off 50 with five fours and a maximum. Arshdeep Singh, Rishi Dhawan, and Liam Livingstone all took a wicket each for Punjab Kings.
Chasing just 144 runs for victory, Jonny Bairstow, who is struggling for form this season, opened the innings for the first time but managed to score just one run as Mohammed Shami got rid of him in the third over. Bhanuka Rajapaksa was promoted to number three and the Sri Lankan supported Dhawan well as he amassed 40 runs off 28 balls with five fours and a six.
Dhawan remained not out on 62 off 53, with eight fours and a six, and to put the icing on the cake for PBKS, destructive Liam Livingstone hammered 30 runs off just ten balls, which included three monstrous sixes off the bowling of Shami. The Englishman helped PBKS in improving the net run rate as the Kings finished off the chase with four overs to spare.
With this massive win, PBKS find themselves in the fifth spot with ten points while GT continue to top the table with 16 points. For his match-winning spell Kagiso Rabada won the Player of the Match award.
Meanwhile, here are some of the important stats and numbers from Match 48 between Gujarat Titans and Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League 2022:
89 – After scoring 180 runs in the first three matches, Shubman Gill has amassed just 89 runs in the last seven games.
11.42 – Jonny Bairstow has scored 80 runs in seven innings at an average of just 11.42 this season.
2 – Kagiso Rabada is now joint-second with Lasith Malinga for taking the most four-wicket hauls (6) in the league. Only Sunil Narine is ahead of them with 7 four-wicket hauls.
352 – Wriddhiman Saha completed 350 fours in T20 cricket.
13 – Shikhar Dhawan equaled Rohit Sharma’s tally of scoring 300-plus runs most times in an IPL edition.
2 – Dhawan, who was tied with Virat Kohli (48), has now scored 49 fifty-plus scores and is in the second spot for most fifty-plus scores in the IPL. David Warner tops the chart with 57 fifty-plus scores.
117 – Liam Livingstone smashed Mohammed Shami for the biggest six (117m) of this campaign. Dewald Brevis had hit 112m maximum against PBKS’s Rahul Chahar.
36 – PBKS has conceded the least boundaries (36) by any team in the death-overs in IPL 2022.
