IPL 2022, GT vs PBKS Highlights: Punjab defeat Gujarat by 8 wickets

Lockie Ferguson in the attack again. Will Punjab take this steady or explode and finish this match as fast as they can? They have the NRR to think about as well here. 2 from the first two balls. Beautiful shot by Dhawan for a 4. That's his 50. A six now by Rajapaksa. Huge shot. Next ball, he is gone. PBKS 97/2 after 12 overs.

Joseph back to bowl the 11th over and Hardik will pray for a breakthrough here. Or else, Gujarat are looking at their second loss this season and will have to wait a little longer to secure a play-off spot. That's a huge swing by Rajapaksa and that's gone high but now far. 2 from that one. Oops that's a no ball. Free hit. Just 1 run. 8 from this over. PBKS 84/1 after 11 overs

Rashid will bowl the 10th over and GT need a couple of wickets here. 3 runs off the first four balls. And that's a four as smashes it to the boundary. PBKS 76/1 after 10 overs

Alzarri Joseph brought in the attack and that's bounced over the keeper after hitting the bottom-edge. That's gone high and there's a man back there but he won't reach there. Good fielding to save the boundary. 50 partnership up. 7 from this one. PBKS 69/1 after 9 overs.

Rashid Khan in to bowl the 8th. He has dismissed Dhawan 4 times and Gujarat will hope he can do it again tonight. Very good over. Yields just 4 runs. PBKS 62/1 after 8 overs.

Two back to back fours by Rajapaksa to start the 7th over. Two great shots and both have been rewarded with boundaries. Dhawan joins in and he guides the ball to the boundary. Sangwan is leaking runs at the moment. Expensive over. 15 from it as we go for timeout. PBKS 58/1 after 7 overs

The last over of the powerplay now. Lockie Ferguson will bowl the last over inside the powerplay. He starts with a wide. Rajapaksa rotates the strike. Dhawan swings at the next ball and misses. Beautiful shot by Dhawan to follow. Creams it for a four!!! PBKS 43/1 after 6 overs

Shami will bowl the penultimate over of the powerplay. Just 1 run from the first 3 balls. Another ball and another dot. One of these balls might get an edge sooner than later. The last ball pierces the gap for a four. PBKS 35/1 after 5 overs

Alzarri Joseph in to bowl the 4th and starts with 2 dots. 2 singles off the next 2 balls. What was that??? Big bouncer, Shikhar follows the ball and just guides it for a six. What a stroke. Next ball is hit for another four. Expensive. PBKS 30/1 after 4 overs.

Jitesh Sharma was trying to drive home his point, but Arshdeep Singh was standing firm, both literally and figuratively. The last ball of Gujarat Titans innings was uneventful until the point Sharma, the Punjab Kings wicketkeeper, became very keen to attempt a run-out at the non-striker’s end, and Singh, the bowler, sort of denied him the opportunity, thanks to an extended follow-through. Sai Sudharsan tried to ramp the delivery, was beaten by the slower ball and ran as an afterthought. Alzarri Joseph, the non-striker, had set off early and Sudharsan was seriously struggling at the other end. Sharma wanted to throw but Singh came in the way, which the ‘keeper didn’t take too kindly. As a bye was conceded, he gave his team-mate an earful. Singh responded immediately. All in the heat of the moment. 

- Shamik Chakrabarty

Rajapaksa uses the pace of Shami's ball for a well-timed four. Sudarshan tries to catch it but that's just over him. That jump hurt him as he walks out of ther field. PBKS 18/1 after 3 overs.

Shami will bowl the 3rd as he starts with a swinger. Bairstow tries to hit a big one and that gets a top edge and Sangwan takes the catch. Bairstow's poor form continues. PBKS 10/1 after 2.2 overs

Sangwan in to bowl the second and Shikhar Dhawan has gotten this over the fielders for a four. And the same ball is bowled again and the result is the same. Four more by Dhawan. Much better deliveries to follow those fours up. PBKS 10/0 after 2 overs

Looks like Punjab has gone for a change in their opening combination as Jonny Bairstow strides out to the middle with Shikhar Dhawan. Mayank Agarwal has slid down. Shami will open the attack for Gujarat. 3 dots to start. Bairstow swings one and gets off the mark. Just 2 runs from this over. PBKS 2/0 after 1 over

All games: 156 by GT vs KKR (Won by 8 runs)
Night games: 169 by LSG vs SRH (Won by 12 runs)

8 S Narine (144 matches)
7 L Malinga (122)
6 K Rabada (59*)
5 A Mishra (154)

Arshdeep in to bowl the last over. Just 5 runs from the first 4 balls. Great bowling. Sai Sudharsan has other ideas. Flicks one behind for a four. And that's a no ball!!! Free-hit time. Cleaned him up on the free hit but won't matter. Last ball now. 1 bye. GT 143/8 after 20 overs.

That's a top-edge four to start Rabada's over and the next ball Ferguson departs after he tries to hit one and it's right down the throat of Livingstone. GT 129/8 after 18.2 overs

Rahul Chahar hurt his hand while taking a throw, forcing him to temporarily leave the field. Liam Livingstone had to come in as a filler, in the middle of an over. Livingstone’s bowling variety is right-arm mixed bag – off-spin is his stock delivery to the left-handers and leg-spin to the right-handers. Two southpaws, Sai Sudharsan and David Miller, were batting for Gujarat Titans and there had to be an overload of off-breaks from the Punjab Kings all-rounder. Chahar was still receiving treatment, so Livingstone got an extra over, and accounted for Miller with one of his off-breaks. The ball was too full to be clobbered that way and the batsman was too close to the delivery to get the required elevation.  Livingstone proved to be the man with the golden arm and his franchise was quick to react on Twitter: “Came in as a filler, gets the big wicket of Miller!”

- Shamik Chakrabarty

SIXXXXX by Sudharsan to get a 50 and the next ball, Sangwan is cleaned up. What a ball!!! That's another down for Gujarat. GT 122/7 after 17.4 overs

Another gone!!!! That's 2 in 2 as Rashid Khan departs now. Outside edge and the keeper makes no mistake. Rashid gone for a duck. GT 112/6 after 16.3 overs

17th over now and Rabada starts with back to back wides. 2 runs to start. Tewatia tries to hit another one. That's a mishit and goes behind for a catch. No Tewatia masterclass tonight. GT 112/5 after 16.2 overs

We are in the slog overs now and Gujarat really need to slog. Arshdeep will bowl this over so getting runs will be tough. His death overs statistics are terrific. Sai apparently does not care and slices one for a four. Could have been caught though. 100 up for Gujarat. 10 from this one. GT 108/4 after 16 overs.

Shubman Gill wasn’t happy, but it felt like not owning up his mistake. Gill misjudged the single, after pushing a Sandeep Sharma delivery towards extra cover. To start with, he timed the ball a little too well and it travelled quickly to Rishi Dhawan. Gill set off as soon as he hit the ball and maybe, he was confident to take on Dhawan’s arm. The batsman had to get around Sharma who was completing his follow-through. Dhawan broke the stumps with a direct hit and Gill was well short. It didn’t even need the third umpire. But Gill thought that Sharma got in the way and seemingly took umbrage. Not a fair call that. The bowler wasn’t guilty and Gill searching for an excuse attested frustration.

- Shamik Chakrabarty

Rishi Dhawan in to finish his spell. Gujarat are struggling to reach 100 runs. If they don't get more boundaries, it'll be a cake walk for Punjab in the chase. Another quiet over for the Gujarat Titans. 6 from this over. GT 98/4 after 15 overs

14th over to be bowled by Rahul Chahar and Sai has meted out the same treatment to him. Pulls one with power and that finds the gap for a four. Just 9 off this one ultimately. GT 92/4 after 14 overs.

Sai Sudharsan hits another four. Great shot. He is finally looking to break free. That's two quick boundaries from him. 10 from this over. GT 83/4 after 13 overs.

Finally, at long last Sudarshan has hit a boundary. Gujarat really needed that. Arshdeep slides in but could not save the four. 7 runs from this over. GT 73/4 after 12 overs.

Someone in this Gujarat Titans has to go at the bowlers here and Miller decided that he will go for it. Sliced across the ball, did not get the necessary distance and he holes out to Rabada. Livingstone gets the wicket. GT 67/4 after 11.2 overs

Time for the 11th over. The last over by Rahul Chahar yielded just 6 runs. Punjab bowlers are really pegging back the GT batters. Sandeep will finish his spell with this over. The first 5 balls have just yielded 3 runs. Gujarat struggling for boundaries. Just 4 from this one. GT 66/3 after 11 overs

Dhawan to bowl the 9th and that's a beautiful bit of fielding from Rabada to save a sure four. Just 4 runs from the first 4 balls. Another excellent over from Dhawan. Just 6 from this over. GT 56/3 after 9 overs as we go for strategic time out.

Livingstone in to bowl the 8th and Punjab has Gujarat on the ropes. They just need the knockout punch and that might lead to a collapse. Just 4 from this over as 50 finally comes up for the Titans. GT 50/3 after 8 overs

Rishi Dhawan in to bowl the 7th and takes Hardik Pandya. Huge start for Punjab. What a ball by Rishi. He is really coming into his own. Hardik gets an outside edge and has to depart. GT 44/3 after 6.2 overs.

Last over in the powerplay now and Arshdeep in to bowl this one. That's a wide in the second ball. He has to rebowl this one. Two dots to follow. Great over by Arshdeep. GT 42/2 after 6 overs

Penultimate over in the powerplay and Sandeep will bowl this one. Just 3 runs from the first 4 balls. Good over ultimately. Just 4 runs from it. GT 38/2 after 5 overs

The fourth over starts now as Gujarat Titans have gone off to a great start but have lost Gill. Rabada in to bowl this one. That's a four. Leg byes but a four nontheless. The next ball is gone for a six. Saha is in some form. He tries to hit one again. That has gone high and Mayank takes the catch. GT 34/2 after 3.5 overs

Run out. Gill is run out. Just what the Punjab Kings needed. After a flying start, there was some miscommunication in the middle and Rishi Dhawan throws the ball and Gill departs.

Mayank Agarwal(c), Shikhar Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma(w), Rishi Dhawan, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh, Sandeep Sharma

Wriddhiman Saha(w), Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Hardik Pandya(c), David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Alzarri Joseph, Pradeep Sangwan, Lockie Ferguson, Mohammed Shami

Gujarat Titans win toss, opt to bat | Hardik speaks: "Going to bat first, don't think dew will play a big role. Have to always stay on top of our games, can't be complacent. A lot of things have gone our way, but it could've gone the other way as well. I'm quite close to bowling now, but given our standing in the table, don't want to rush myself. Have the luxury of taking a couple of games off."

Graeme Smith brings us the pitch report: "Much better surface, more even grass covering. Expect the ball to come on better, strokeplay to be better. Expect captains to win the toss, stick to the formula and bowl first".

Gujarat Titans: Abhinav Manohar, David Miller, Gurkeerat Singh, B Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya (Captain), Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Matthew Wade, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Wriddhiman Saha, Alzarri Joseph, Darshan Nalkande, Dominic Drakes, Jayant Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Mohammed Shami, Noor Ahmad, Pradeep Sangwan, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Varun Aaron, Yash Dayal.

Punjab Kings: Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada, Jonny Bairstow, Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Brar, Shahrukh Khan, Prabhsimran Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Ishan Porel, Liam Livingstone, Odean Smith, Sandeep Sharma, Raj Angad Bawa, Rishi Dhawan, Prerak Mankad, Vaibhav Arora, Writtick Chatterjee, Baltej Dhanda, Ansh Patel, Nathan Ellis, Atharva Taide, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Benny Howell.

Being an night game, dew will be play an important factor in the game. But with pitches started to slowing down chasing a target of around 160 can be difficult.

People coming in and showing what they can do in clutch situations is becoming quite a habit, something I don't mind happening. We always back them to do it, but they're defying odds time and again. Credit to their confidence level (on Miller, Tewatia and Rashid), the self-belief that they're having, making sure they can finish games

We are bowling exceedingly well and doing a lot of right things as a bowling unit. Arshdeep has stepped up, Rahul got wickets and KG being the big guy is always stepping up and getting us important wickets

For tonight's match between Punjab and Gujarat, humidity levels are expected to remain between 64-80 per cent, while the temperatures will hover around 28° Celcius at night.

Titans have won five run chases in the last over, two of them off the last ball. Only CSK in 2018 and RR in 2019 have won as many matches in the last over of a run chase in a single edition.

Wriddhiman Saha has scored 91 runs at a SR of 142.18 in the powerplay without getting dismissed.

The last time these two sides met, Shubman Gill was in hot form against the Punjab-based outfit. The Kings will hope that Rabada will be able to send the batter back to the pavilion early.

The Kings have played two matches at the DY Patil Stadium with contrasting results. In their season opener, PBKS faced the Royal Challengers Bangalore and won by five wickets. Later, they lost to the Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets at the same venue.

The Titans, on the other hand have played three matches at the DY Patil Stadium, the first of which is also their one and only loss of the season so far, against Sunrisers Hyderabad, by eight wickets. Their next two games here, the team won against Rajasthan Royals and the Kolkata Knight Riders by 37 runs and eight wickets respectively.

The Titans are sitting atop the points table with 16 points from nine games, losing just one match, while the Kings have won four and lost five games in their nine played matches, and sit at the seventh position with eight points. (READ MORE)

Arshdeep Singh had bowled the crucial 16th and 18th over to Pandya and Shubman Gill in the game against Gujarat Titans and conceded only six and five runs respectively. He mixed his lengths beautifully and kept the two batsmen quiet. His spell turned the tide in Punjab Kings’ favour before Rahul Tewatia sealed the game for the Titans. (READ MORE)

Rahul Tewatia won it for Gujarat Titans, hitting two sixes off the final two deliveries. Odean Smith lost it for Punjab Kings, not just by conceding those two sixes, but by overthrowing and giving away a single in the fourth ball of the final over. (READ MORE)

Gujarat Titans are the only team in IPL history to win 8 out of their first 9 matches. Dominant performances all season long.

Gujarat Titans have been the team to beat this season, with just one loss. Their last match was against Royal Challengers Bangalore which they won by 6 wickets. Punjab, meanwhile, have had an inconsistent season. Coming into this match, they have lost their last match against Lucknow. They'll be looking forward to victory tonight.

The last time Gujarat and Punjab met, they produced a cracking finish with Tewatia bringing his team back from the dead by smashing two sixes off the last two balls of the game.

It was his five sixes in an over from Sheldon Cottrell at Sharjah during the 2020 edition of IPL which instilled self-belief in Rahul Tewatia that he belongs to this level, feels the legendary Sunil Gavaskar. (READ MORE)