Shreyas Iyer was named the Player of the Match for his magnificent knock. The PBKS captain remained unbeaten in the first innings and scored 97 runs in only 42 deliveries. He received great support from debutant Priyansh Arya at the start of his innings and from Shashank Singh at the fag end of the innings.
Shreyas Iyer was the best batter in the game and was rightly named the Player of the Match. Leading the Punjab Kings, Iyer showed a great deal of promise with the bat in hand. He remained unbeaten on 97 runs. In the last over, the 30-year-old was presented with an opportunity to take the strike. However, in an act of selflessness, the captain chose to put his team’s needs above his personal milestones. Iyer’s knock was a masterclass on how to bat in modern-day T20 cricket.
Shashank Singh made sure that Punjab’s margin of victory was increased by a few runs. Batting at number seven, the uncapped Indian batter played a blinder as he scored 44 runs in only 16 balls.
Vijaykumar Vyshak even though did not pick up a single wicket proved to be a crucial player for the Kings. He came in as an impact player and came on to bowl the 15th over after the previous six balls had gone for 17 runs. He bowled three overs and conceded only 28 runs.
Arshdeep Singh picked up two wickets for the Kings. The left-arm pacer carried on with his T20I form. His first two overs even though were wicketless it was still an impactful start to the second innings. His two overs went for only seven runs and pushed the GT openers on the backfoot. He came back for an over in the middle phase and dismissed Sai Sudharsan. In the last over with 27 runs to defend, the Indian pacer dismissed Shrefane Rutherford to pick up his second wicket.
Sai Kishore was the best bowler for the Gujarat Titans in the first innings. The left-arm spinner picked up three wickets while going away for only 30 runs. His three wickets damaged the Punjab Kings’ middle-order. Kishore’s scalps included Azmatullah Omarzai, Glenn Maxwell, and Marcus Stoinis.
Sai Sudharsan was the top run-scorer for the Titans as they succumbed to an 11-run defeat at the hands of the Punjab Kings. The left-handed batter had started his innings pretty slowly but managed to accelerate at the right time. GT would have fancied their chances to chase down this mammoth total had Sudharsan batted for a bit longer and got a triple-digit score.
Shreyas Iyer was on absolute fire in his debut game for the Punjab Kings. The skipper led from the front and played a crucial knock of 97 runs while remaining unbeaten. He showed great signs of selfishness in the last over. There was an opportunity to retain the strike and go for his century, however, Iyer ran the double and put his team’s goals ahead of his ton.
Apart from Iyer, Shashank Singh and Priyansh Arya performed brilliantly as well. Shashank remained unbeaten with Shreyas and scored 44 runs in only 16 balls to power PBKS to a score of 243 runs. For the Titans, the only positive from the first innings was the Sai Kishore’s bowling. The left-arm spinner picked up three wickets and bowled with great control as well.
Even with some great batting performances from Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler, and Sherfance Rutherford, the Punjab Kings managed to register an 11-run win. Chasing 244 runs it was never going to be an easy task for the GT batters. Meanwhile, for the Punjab Kings, Arshdeep Singh picked up two wickets. He bowled with great control only going 36 runs in his four overs.
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