Titans first to qualify; sun sets on Sunrisers

Wednesday 17th May 2023 06:36 EDT
 
 

Hitting 13 boundaries and a six in his 101 off 58 balls, Shubman Gill guided the defending champions Gujarat Titans to 188/9. The dominance provided by Gill was sustained by new-ball bowlers Mohammed Shami (4/21) and Yash Dayal when the Titans bowled. Together they took four wickets in the Powerplay to reduce Sunrisers Hyderabad to 45/4 before Mohit Sharma (4/28) got into the act and took three wickets in his first spell. Only a 68-run partnership between Heinrich Klaasen and Bhuvneshwar staved off an even bigger defeat. SRH were restricted to 154/9, losing by 43 runs. The defeat ended their chance of qualifying for the playoffs while Titans became the first team to qualify this season.
Chennai suffer shock loss
After suffering three early setbacks in a chase of 145 courtesy Deepak Chahar, Kolkata Knight Riders captain Nitish Rana allied with Rinku Singh to calmly guide the visitors to a six-wicket victory over Chennai Super Kings. Deepak Chahar was the only bright spot among the CSK bowlers, as he yet again found a way to make the crucial inroads in the powerplay. He dislodged KKR’s top 3 with a widish line outside off stump, as what seemed like innocuous deliveries turned into wicket-taking ones. Earlier, Narine and Chakravarthy won the middle overs battle with four collective wickets, and Shardul Thakur and Vaibhav Arora bowled skillfully at the death as KKR restricted CSK to 144.
Bangalore skittle out Rajasthan
It was Royals from Bangalore who came out all guns blazing to register a thumping 112 runs victory over Sanju Samson’s outfit in a sink-or-swim clash at the SMS Stadium. The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) bowlers breathed fire and Rajasthan Royals surrendered meekly in a chase of 172. The hosts were bundled out for 59 in just 10. 3 overs, the third lowest IPL score.
Only Shimron Hetmyer showed some fight and counter attacked with a 19-ball 35, which included 4 sixes and a boundary.
Lucknow make it to top four
The Sunrisers Hyderabad coach would rather like to see them tearing down the opposition and powering the team to a good total. The joy of a thrilling win in Jaipur was short lived as Nicholas Pooran’s blinder (44*) took Lucknow to fourth on the table with 13 points from 12 games. Like in Jaipur, Abdul Samad was in the thick of the action at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium too as his unbeaten 37 and 58 stand for the sixth wicket with Heinrich Klaasen took the Sunrisers, opting to bat first for the first time at home this season, to 182/6. The Lucknow skipper got rid of his opposite number and Glen Phillips off successive deliveries to extend his stranglehold over Markram, whose IPL record against Pandya reads 8 balls, four runs and three dismissals.


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