Catches win matches. This isn’t just a phrase, and it was proven once again on Thursday night in Ahmedabad. The two dropped catches, one by Azmatullah Omarzai and the other by Umesh Yadav on opposite sides of the square, proved to be very costly. However, the two uncapped batters, Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma, lit up the world’s biggest stadium and pulled off a remarkable run-chase of 200 when their team was cornered at 111-5.
Gill lights up Ahmedabad
While Shubman Gill’s home ground is Mohali, statistics suggest that Ahmedabad has become his new home base. He seems to have developed a special fondness for the city especially when it comes to his batting performances. There’s a certain spark ignited when Gill faces Punjab Kings in Ahmedabad. In his last eight innings against PBKS, Gill has scored fifties in five of them. Aware of the threat Gill poses, Shikhar Dhawan opted to open the bowling with the left-arm spin of Harpreet Brar. However, Gill wasted no time and confidently danced down the track to hit Brar for a six on just the second ball, making his intentions clear. Despite facing challenges from bowlers like Arshdeep Singh, Gill remained focused on his goal, knowing that he had to anchor the innings in the absence of David Miller. Despite losing wickets at regular intervals, Gill maintained his composure and paced his innings well, taking calculated risks when needed. His ability to take on bowlers like Kagiso Rabada and Harshal Patel in the middle-overs, as well as his knack for building partnerships, was the highlight of his innings. Gill’s exemplary batting display not only showcased his skill but also contributed significantly to GT’s formidable total.
Finisher Tewatia delivers again
Tewatia has earned a reputation as a proven finisher, and his ability to hit bowlers to different pockets of the ground makes him very tough to bowl to. It was the penultimate over, Tewatia’s Haryana teammate Harshal Patel had the ball in hand. Having played so much with and against each other, there was a sense of familiarity between the two. Tewatia had only faced one ball before this over, yet Harshal ended up bowling three wides, such was the pressure. Not just that, Tewatia scored 13 off that over. Harshal was bowling to the reputation of Tewatia, which really made him bowl all those freebies. Also, the way Tewatia moves around his crease confuses the bowler a lot. There’s very little margin of error while bowling to someone like Tewatia. With his innings of 23 off just 8 balls, he showcased his batting prowess once again.
Noor- The middle-overs magician
Jonny Bairstow was going hard at GT bowlers. There was an urgent need to get him out because a batter like him can quickly take the game away from the opposition. Noor had the ball in hand, and what he bowled first up was a googly which outfoxed Bairstow. Prabhsimran was reading Rashid Khan well, and was scoring boundaries against GT’s premier spinner. Noor came up with his second over, and once again, his googly did the trick as the dangerous-looking Prabhsimran got out. Noor’s spell in the middle overs tilted the game in GT’s favor. When the PBKS batters were taking on Rashid, it was Noor who took the pressure off from his senior ally. He spun the ball quickly and made life tough for PBKS batters.
Birth of New Heroes for PBKS
When Sam Curran got out with PBKS at 70-4, broadcasters displayed a graphic that said that the visiting team had a seven percent chance of winning the game. However, technology doesn’t decide the outcome of the game. And it was proven once again that victory was snatched from the jaws of defeat by the two uncapped batters – Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma. While Shashank played the innings of his lifetime, Ashutosh complemented him really well in the end with a brisk cameo. These two batters did the unexpected. They defied the odds with a match-turning partnership of 43 off 22 balls. Shashank, in particular, was the standout batter. Despite his team being under immense pressure, he didn’t allow that pressure to catch him off guard as he played a sensational innings with shots against all bowlers and all around the ground.