Gujarat Titans pulled off another memorable heist as they scored 22 runs in the final over to beat the Sunrisers Hyderabad by five wickets at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday.
Batting first, Sunrisers Hyderabad set a daunting target of 196 and while the chase lost steam, Rahul Tewatia and Rashid Khan kept smoking sixes to get over the line in the final ball with a six over deep fine leg.
Khan and Tewatia hit four sixes between them in the last six balls to not only change the game but win it and consolidate Gujarat’s position at the top of the points table.
Gujarat Titans got off to a bright start as Wriddhiman Saha got going from the start and kept his side in the hunt with a 38-ball 68. The other star of this match was pacer Umran Malik, who has been impressive with each passing day.
With fiery pace, attacking fields and immaculate control, he sliced through Gujarat’s top and middle order. He accounted for Shubman Gill, captain Hardik Pandya, Wriddhiman Saha, David Miller and Abhinav Manohar.
Earlier in the day, Hardik Pandya won the toss and elected to field first. Young opener Abhishek Sharma was in good form and he found good support in Aiden Markram. The duo added 96 runs for the third wicket. Sharma went after Rashid Khan and in a rather rare occurrence, the leggie conceded 45 runs in his allotted quota of 4 overs.
The finishing touch to this innings was given by Shashank Singh who smashed a hat-trick of sixes to hit Lockie Ferguson to end the innings and remain unbeaten on 25 runs off just six deliveries.
Here is how Twitter reacted to this thrilling match:
Graeme Swann was lost for breath.
Yuvraj Singh was all praise for Rashid Khan.
Kris Srikkanth called the chase “simply incredible”.
Harbhajan Singh was all pumped for Rashid Khan.
Anjum Chopra was delighted with Umran Malik.
