Liam Livingstone’s second consecutive fifty (64) and the second fastest this season powered Punjab Kings to 189 for nine against Gujarat Titans at the Brabourne Stadium here on Friday.
Canny bowling by Rashid Khan (3/22) at the death put the skids on Kings’ charge and restricted them to a much lesser total than it looked like at one stage. Rashid’s two wickets in the 16th over, in which he dismissed the dangerous Livingstone and Shahrukh Khan, triggered a collapse which saw Kings lose four wickets for just 12 runs.
Rahul Chahar’s cameo
Rahul Chahar (22 n.o., 14b, 2x4, 1x6) came up with a cameo and added 27 runs for the last wicket with Arshdeep Singh (10 n.o., 5b, 1x4) that enabled their side to finish strongly.
However, Titans had the last laugh. The team’s chase was put on track by Shubman Gill’s excellent 96 (59b, 11x4, 1x6) and the team was very much in the game throughout.
After Gill got out in the fifth ball of the 19th over, Rahul Tewatia’s fine hitting (13, 3b, 2x6) took Titans to a sensational last-ball victory.
Stuttering start
Put in, Punjab stuttered at the start with captain Mayank Agarwal (5) failing for the third consecutive time.
His attempted pull off a climber from Hardik Pandya ended in a comfortable catch to Rashid at mid on. Shikhar Dhawan (35) started with a streaky boundary.
He took some time finding his touch before lofting Lockie Ferguson over mid-on for a four. He followed it up with an exquisite cover drive.
Johnny Bairstow’s debut for Kings didn’t last long as his attempted ramp shot ended in a diving catch to Tewatia at short fine-leg to leave the team struggling at 34 for two
Liam Livingstone flicked the first ball he faced from Ferguson to fine-leg for a four and carted Darshan Nalkande over long on for a six. Livingstone had a reprieve when he pulled Rashid straight to Hardik whose left foot touched the ropes while taking the catch.
Livingstone played two successive scoops and a square-cut off Nalakande’s second over which bled 16 runs. The third-wicket pair put on 50 runs off 30 balls before Rashid had Dhawan caught behind. Jitesh Sharma (23 off 11 balls) kept up the momentum.
However, Nalkande put the brakes on by dismissing Jitesh and Odeon Smith off successive balls. Shahrukh Khan warmed up for the final assault, hitting Shami for consecutive sixes. However, Rashid trapped him in front.
Scoreboard
Punjab Kings Innings: Mayank Agarwal c Rashid Khan b Hardik Pandya 5 Shikhar Dhawan c Wade b Rashid Khan 35 Jonny Bairstow c Rahul Tewatia b Lockie Ferguson 8 Liam Livingstone c Miller b Rashid Khan 64 Jitesh Sharma c Shubman Gill b Darshan Nalkande 23 Odean Smith c Shubman Gill b Darshan Nalkande 0 Shahrukh Khan lbw b Rashid Khan 15 Kagiso Rabada run out (Shami/Wade) 1 Rahul Chahar not out 22 Vaibhav Arora b Shami 2 Arshdeep Singh not out 10; Extras : 4 (LB-1, W-3)
Total: (For 9 wickets in 20 Overs) 189
Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-34, 3-86, 4-124, 5-124, 6-153, 7-154,8-156, 9-162.
Bowling: Mohammed Shami 4-0-36-1, Hardik Pandya 4-0-36-1, Lockie Ferguson 4-0-33-1, Rashid Khan 4-0-22-3, Darshan Nalkande 3-0-37-2, Rahul Tewatia 1-0-24-0.
