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AHMEDABAD — Veteran fast-bowler Mohit Sharma picked a brilliant 3-25, while young Sai Sudharsan and experienced David Miller shared a crucial 64-run stand to help Gujarat Titans beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets to register their second win of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday.
In the afternoon, on a two-paced black soil pitch, Mohit was impressive with his cutters and slower deliveries, including offering great control in the back end of the innings, to keep SRH to a below-par 162/8. He was well-supported by Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad and Umesh Yadav taking one wicket each.
In chasing 163, Sudarshan overcame a slow start on a two-paced pitch to make 45 off 36 balls, while Miller fought through pain in his leg to be unbeaten on 44 off 27 deliveries. The duo never panicked even when it looked like SRH had the slight upper hand in the middle overs to take GT over the line in the last over of the chase, to make it 11/12 wins for home teams in the competition.
For SRH, all of their top seven batters made beyond 15, but none of them could go past 30, while GT had their top four batters making more than 25. Electing to bat first, Travis Head and Mayank Agarwal hit five boundaries between themselves, before the latter was cramped for room and swivel-pulled straight to deep square off Omarzai in the fifth over, falling for a 17-ball 16.
Abhishek Sharma, fresh off a 16-ball fifty against Mumbai Indians, began by nailing a pulled four off Omarzai, before smacking back-to-back sixes against Rashid to take SRH to 56/1 at the end of Power-play.
But GT bounced back as Travis Head missed a slog off Noor and was castled for 19 off 14 balls. Three overs later, with Noor keeping things tight, Abhishek fell for 29 off 20 balls when he mistimed a punch to cover off Mohit.
The in-form Heinrich Klaasen started off in style by glancing an on-pads delivery from Noor for four, before clubbing Noor for back-to-back sixes over deep mid-wicket fence. His fun under the sun ended at 24 off 13 balls when he missed a skiddy full delivery while trying to pull Rashid and was castled.
Shortly after, Aiden Markram holed out to long-on off Umesh after his lofted on-drive was caught by Rashid diving in to complete a brilliant catch. Abdul Samad dealt in fours while Shahbaz Ahmed hit nicely-timed sixes in their crucial 45-run stand off 28 balls for the sixth wicket.
But Mohit had Ahmed holing out to long-on off a slower delivery and Impact Player Washington Sundar pulling straight to deep mid-wicket on consecutive deliveries in the final over, conceding only three runs and ending with Samad’s run-out, as he fell for a 14-ball 29.
Chasing 163, Wriddhiman Saha was off to a flying start by hitting two sixes and a four in the first four overs, covering up well for Shubman Gill’s slow start. But Shabhaz took out Saha on the first ball of the fifth over, when the batter chipped to mid-on.
Gill went from 11 runs in 12 balls to hitting a six and four each off Ahmed and Washington respectively to reach 36 off 27 deliveries. But on the first ball post the timeout, Gill danced down the pitch to loft a googly from Mayank Markande but holed out to long-on to fall from 36 off 28 balls.
GT’s struggle to accelerate in the middle overs cropped up again when Impact Player Sudharsan and Miller struggled to get a move on, with SRH bowlers mixing up deliveries as well as varying pace to keep the duo in check.
Sudharsan broke the shackles by driving Jaydev Unadkat for four, opening the bat face late to guide a boundary off Pat Cummins wide of the diving short-third man. He then pulled Washington for another four to inject some life into GT’s chase.
Miller, who was at 13 off 16 balls before the 16th over began, got past his slow start by splitting the gap between long-on and deep mid-wicket to perfection for four, before dancing down the pitch to carve Markande over extra cover for six. Sudarshan then danced down the pitch to dispatch Markande for six, before Miller ended the decisive 24-run over by lofting downtown for another maximum.
Cummins presented a twist in the game as Sudarshan pulled his slower delivery to mid-wicket, but Miller ensured the game firmly stayed in GT’s grasp by taking two fours off Cummins – a pull through long leg was followed by slapping one past a misfielding extra cover.
Vijay Shankar applied finishing touches with back-to-back boundaries – a top-edge on pull followed by a punch over mid-off before Miller finished off the chase by lofting a six over long-off to give GT a clinical win with five balls to spare.
Brief scores:
Sunrisers Hyderabad 162/8 in 20 overs (Abdul Samad 29, Abhishek Sharma 29; Mohit Sharma 3-25, Azmatullah Omarzai 1-24) lost to Gujarat Titans 168/3 in 19.1 overs (Sai Sudharsan 45, David Miller 44 not out; Shahbaz Ahmed 1-20, Pat Cummins 1-28) by seven wickets