By Our Special Correspondent
Shikhar Dhawan brought all his experience to the table to punish a wayward Gujarat Titans attack and give Punjab Kings an eight-wicket victory after South African pacer Kagiso Rabada restricted their opponents to a paltry score at the DY Patil Stadium in Pune on Tuesday.
Punjab, who has been showing yo-yo form this season, surprised themselves with a perfect show against table-toppers Gujarat and keeps themselves in the running for the play-offs. Win-loss, win-loss has been the sequence for the Kings, but after two successive losses, one thought they have gone into the reversal mode for good, but they played their all-round game to perfection.
One big reason could be that Gujarat skipper Hardik Pandya offered the game on a platter by winning the toss and electing to bat, a brave decision that backfired and also made Punjab’s task easier.
The wicket had plenty of assistance to the bowlers early on, but with the dew settling down and some wayward bowling by Gujarat bowlers, the job of the Punjab batters were made easier and Dhawan grabbed it both hands to produce an 87-run partnership with Banuka Rajapaksa and then an unbroken 48-run stand with Liam Livingstone, who scored 28 runs off Shami’s last over to dent his reputation created by the brilliant three-over first spell.
It’s a game to forget for Gujarat, who can afford a few slip-ups and for a change none of their earlier heroes came good and had a rare off day. But rookie Sai Sudharsan kept his cool and took the team to 143/7 with an unbeaten 65.
Punjab skipper Mayank Agarwal’s gamble to open with Jonny Bairstow did not get the desired results, but at least he should be happy to get the favourable result that will boost their dampened spirits for the crucial home stretch. The victory with five overs to spare should have also boosted the net run rate, which will be crucial with so many teams level on points. Punjab has moved up to the fifth spot with 10 points.
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