Punjab ride on Rabada's four-for & Dhawan's class to romp to 8-wkt win over table-topping Titans
The experienced Shikhar Dhawan may be out of the reckoning for India in the T20Is set-up but that hasn't dimmed his will to make a comeback to the national team.
| AS IT HAPPENEDSCORECARDPOINTS TABLE
On Tuesday, he produced a composed display of responsible and aggressive batting in his unbeaten knock of 62 as Punjab Kings cantered to an easy eight-wicket win over Gujarat Titans at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Tuesday.
Dhawan's upper-cut off Alzarri Joseph to a ball aimed at his throat was the pick of his shots. He also took a special liking for state-mate Pradeep Sangwan, cutting him for three fours.
The win means Kings leapfrog to fifth place in the table with 10 points to stay in hunt for the playoffs while the five-match winning streak of Titans comes to an end.
Dhawan and Sri Lankan batter Bhanuka Rajapaksa put on a crucial 87 runs for the second wicket after the early departure of Jonny Bairstow off Mohammad Shami's bowling for 1.
Livingstone lights it up
After Rajpaksa was trapped in front by Lockie Ferguson for 40, England batter Liam Livingstone came to the middle and smashed three sixes and two fours of a Shami over to help Kings triumph with four overs to spare. One of the sixes cleared the mid-wicket boundary and sailed as far as 117 metres.
1/10:Punjab beat Gujarat
<p>Gujarat Titans suffered only their second IPL defeat on Tuesday as Kagiso Rabada took four wickets for the second match running before Shikhar Dhawan's half-century led Punjab Kings to a dominant win. (BCCI/IPL Photo)</p>
2/10:Punjab move up to 5th spot
<p>Liam Livingstone smashed three sixes to complete an eight-wicket victory with four overs to spare, moving Punjab up to fifth and stopping league leaders Gujarat from putting one foot in the playoffs. (BCCI/IPL Photo)</p>
3/10:Kagiso Rabada
<p>Gujarat won the toss and chose to bat but made just 143/8 as Rabada produced man-of-the-match figures of 4/33. (BCCI/IPL/PTI Photo)</p>
4/10:Sai Sudharsan
<p>Gujarat's only standout was Sai Sudharsan who grounded out a gutsy 65*, the 20-year-old's first half-century of the IPL in only his fourth innings. (BCCI/IPL/PTI Photo)</p>
5/10:Shubman Gill
<p>The Titans lost both their openers in the power play, with Shubman Gill run out for 9 in the third over and Wriddhiman Saha caught by a back-pedalling Mayank Agarwal off Rabada. (BCCI/IPL/PTI Photo)</p>
6/10:Hardik Pandya
<p>Gujarat's top scorer of the season Hardik Pandya fell for just one, failing to move his feet and thick-edging Rishi Dhawan to keeper Jitesh Sharma as he looked to drive. (BCCI/IPL/PTI Photo)</p>
7/10:David Miller
<p>David Miller tried to get the scoreboard moving, but misjudged Livingstone's offspin to give Rabada a simple catch on the long-on boundary, departing for 11. (BCCI/IPL/PTI Photo)</p>
8/10:Rahul Tewatia
<p>Rahul Tewatia, often the danger man at the end of an innings, also was out for 11, trying to reverse-sweep a wide, slow Rabada ball. (BCCI/IPL/ANI Photo)</p>
9/10:Jonny Bairstow
<p>Jonny Bairstow, promoted to number two, departed for one in the third over, top-edging Mohammed Shami to Pradeep Sangwan at deep fine-leg. (BCCI/IPL/PTI Photo)</p>
10/10:Match-winning stand
<p>But Dhawan and Bhanuka Rajapaksa made quick work of the modest target off Shami, Rashid Khan and Alzarri Joseph. (BCCI/IPL/PTI Photo)</p>Hardik experiment goes awry
Earlier, an experiment by Titans captain Hardik Pandya to set a target, the first by a captain after winning the toss in a day-night match in the current edition of IPL, seemed to backfire as the table-toppers were held to a below-par 143/8 by the Punjab Kings. Sai Sudharsan top scored with five boundaries and a six in his unbeaten 65-run innings.
The Kings bowling was led by South African pacer Kagiso Rabada, who returned figures of 4/36 and kept the scoring on a leash by banging his cutters into the pitch and depriving the batters the pace to time or hit the ball.
While leg spinner Rahul Chahar's finger injury meant he could not complete his full quota of overs, part-time spinner Livingstone played his role to perfection. For Titans, the usual solid start by Gill and Saha went missing.
