Rahul Tewatia and Gujarat Titans pulled off a heist to break Punjab Kings hearts at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Friday night. Needing 12 off the final two balls, Tewatia did the unthinkable by smashing consecutive sixes to give his team a memorable win in IPL 2022. Tewatia is making a habit of doing the impossible and his late heroics catapulted Gujarat Titans to second in the IPL points table, same points as table-toppers Kolkata Knight Riders, who have played a game more. After the nail-biting finish, Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya just counldn’t believe what had happened and wore a shell-shocked look even as teammates around him celebrated wildly.
Watch Hardik Pandya’s reaction to Gujarat’s incredible win:
@rahultewatia02 creams two successive SIXES on the last two deliveries as the @hardikpandya7-led @gujarat_titans beat #PBKS & complete a hat-trick of wins in the #TATAIPL 2022! #PBKSvGT
Scorecard https://t.co/GJN6Rf8GKJ pic.twitter.com/ke0A1VAf41
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 8, 2022
Earlier, GT had won the toss and elected to field in Mumbai. Hardik Pandya struck early to remove PBKS skipper Mayank Agarwal, whose torrid run with the bat continued.
Jonny Bairstow, playing his first match of IPL 2022, too fell without making much of a contribution. Shikhar Dhawan and Liam Livingstone, however, put PBKS on track of a big score with a fine partnership for the third wicket.
The Englishman then kicked on, blasting 64 off 27 balls. But the game-changing moment came in the 16th over as Rashid Khan removed the dangerous Livingstone and Shahrukh Khan in the same over.
It seemed PBKS would fall well short of the 200-run mark that they were looking at when Livingstone was going great guns but a brilliant cameos from Rahul Chahar and Arshdeep Singh helped them post 189 for nine.
In reply, Shubman Gill anchored GT’s chase with a sensational 96 off 59 balls. Young Sai Sudharsan too looked good in his knock of 35 off 30 balls. Skipper Hardik Pandya chipped in with 27 off 18 balls but it seemed GT had left themselves a mountain to climb towards the end.
Needing 19 off the final over, PBKS threw the ball to Odean Smith who started with a wide. Hardik was run out next leaving GT needing 18 off five balls. David Miller hit a crucial boundary off the third ball to keep GT’s hopes alive.
Promoted
13 required off three balls, Odean Smith had a brain fade, taking a shy at the stumps when there was no need to. This resulted in GT needing 12 off 2 balls with Tewatia back on strike.
The rest as they say is history.
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